>/-J 


FEB     1  V 
25Mar'6< 


PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 
TO  SOUTHWEST  AFRICA 


PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 
TO  SOUTHWEST  AFRICA 

A  NARRATIVE  OF  THE  GERMAN  CAMPAIGN 

BY 

GUSTAV   FRENSSEN 

TRANSLATED    FROM    TIIE    ORIGINAL 

WITH   THE   CONSENT  OF  THE  AUTHOR 

BY 

MARGARET  MAY  WARD 


BOSTON    AND   NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

(iEfre  ftitoerjsibe  Jpxtsf  Cambn&ge 

1908 


COPYRIGHT   IQ06  BY  ANDREW  HENSHAW  WARD 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  September  iqo8 


c./£<?5  333 


u 


This  book  is  dedicated  with  tender  and  loving  memo- 
ries to  the  cause  which  the  translator  hoped  it  might 
aid,  the  cause  for  which  she  was  always  ready  to 
give  her  abounding  strength,  and  to  the  service  of 
which  she  brought  the  wisdom  of  a  loyal  nature 
and  a  noble  mind,  —  to  the  cause  of  PEACE. 

A.  H.  W. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

I  have  always  felt  that  all  war  stories  dwell  too 
much  on  the  glory  and  glamour  of  war,  and  too 
little  on  the  hardships  and  horrors  and  the  unneces- 
sary cruelty  of  it ;  and  so  when  I  read  a  little  German 
book  about  the  Southwest  African  war  of  1903-04, 
I  wished  that  every  one  else  might  read  it.  To  me 
it  was  absorbingly  interesting  and  beautifully  told. 
This  summer  I  have  translated  it  in  the  hope  that 
it  will  affect  other  people  as  it  affected  me. 

Margaret  May  Ward. 
Temple,  New  Hampshire,  1907. 


CONTENTS 

I.  Peter  enlists 1 

II.  Peter  volunteers  for  Africa          .  5 

III.  The  Voyage 12 

IV.  By  Railway  to  the  Capital   .         .  88 
V.  The  Journey  inland  on  Foot    .         .  54 

VI.    Brothers,  or  Slaves?     ...  66 

VII.    Peter  is  promoted      ....       81 

VIII.    A  Memorable  Easter   ...  91 

IX.  Destitution  and  Misery     .          .         .     107 

X.  Homesickness  and  Fever  .         .         114 
XI.    Civilization  and  a  Bath    .          .          .124 

XII.  Another  Expedition        .  .          .         134 

XIII.  A  Dangerous  Mission         .  .          .155 

XIV.  The  Flight  of  a  Nation  .         .         173 
XV.  A  Dry  and  Thirsty  Land  .  .          .189 

XVI.    The  Limit  of  Endurance        .         .         198 
XVII.    Last  Days  in  Africa  .         .         .236 


PETER   MOOR'S   JOURNEY  TO 
SOUTHWEST  AFRICA 


PETER    ENLISTS 

When  I  was  a  little  boy  I  wanted  to  be  a 
coachman  or  a  letter-carrier;  that  pleased  my 
mother  very  much.  When  I  was  a  big  boy  I 
wanted  to  go  to  America;  then  she  scolded 
me.  So  when  my  school-days  were  at  an  end 
I  said  one  day  that  I  should  like  best  to  be  a 
sailor;  then  she  began  to  cry.  My  three  little 
sisters  wept,  too. 

But  on  the  day  after  I  left  school,  before  I 
knew  really  what  was  happening  to  me,  I  was 
standing  at  the  anvil  in  my  father's  shop,  and 
our  apprentice,  who  had  strayed  out  of  Saxony 
to  us  and  had  already  worked  a  long  time 
with  my  father,  was  saying  to  me:  "See! 
there  you  stand,  and  there  you  will  stand  till 


2  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

you  are  gray"  ;  and  he  laughed.  As  we  had  a 
good  piece  of  work,  making  a  gate  and  paling 
in  front  of  a  fine  new  building  on  Broad 
Street,  I  was  contented,  and  remained  three 
years  in  my  father's  workshop  and  worked 
with  him  and  the  apprentice,  and  went  even- 
ings to  the  trade-school.  Twice  I  took  a  first 
prize. 

In  the  second  year  of  my  apprenticeship,  when 
I  was  seventeen  years  old,  I  met  Henry  Gehlsen 
on  the  street.  I  sometimes  used  to  play  with 
him  as  a  boy.  He  was  the  son  of  Gehlsen  the 
teacher,  who  had  formerly  held  a  position  in 
our  school  and  was  now  a  principal  at  Ham- 
burg. Henry  was  some  years  older  than  I  and 
was  a  student  at  Kiel.  While  we  were  walking 
together  down  Breitenburg  Street,  he  told  me 
that  he  wanted  to  enlist  in  the  autumn  of  1903 
for  a  year  in  a  naval  battalion.  I  asked  him 
why  he  wanted  to  enlist  in  that  especially.  He 
replied :  "  It  is  fine  company.  And  then,  too, 
it  is  possible  that  one  can  travel  at  the  expense 
of  the  government,  for  if  an  insurrection 
breaks  out  in  any  of  our  colonies,  or  if  any- 


PETER  ENLISTS  3 

thing  is  the  matter  in  the  whole  world,  the 
naval  force  is  the  first  of  all  to  be  called  out." 

I  did  not  say  anything  further  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  but  I  thought  to  myself  that  I  also  might 
later  go  into  the  marine  corps.  I  had  already 
been  several  times  at  Kiel  and  I  liked  the  uni- 
form. What  he  said  about  traveling  across  the 
seas  pleased  me  too.  But  at  that  time  I  did  n't 
know  how  I  was  going  to  bring  it  all  about. 

One  day,  in  the  following  year,  I  learned 
from  an  older  schoolmate  who  was  serving  at 
Kiel  in  the  85th  regiment,  that  the  navy  was 
enlisting  volunteers  for  three  years.  That  same 
evening,  while  I  was  clearing  up  and  my  father 
was  passing  through  the  shop  with  his  short 
pipe  in  his  mouth,  to  look  out  on  the  street  a 
little,  as  he  always  did  of  an  evening,  I  asked 
him  if  I  should  apply.  That  pleased  him,  for 
he  had  served  with  the  31st  in  Altona  till  he 
had  reached  the  rank  of  non-commissioned 
officer.  He  said  nothing  more  than,  "  Your 
mother  will  be  frightened  at  the  word  'sea.'" 

"Yes,"  I  said;  "she  has  the  three  girls, 
though." 


4  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

"  Go  and  put  your  case  before  her,"  he 
said;  "she  is  in  the  kitchen." 

Meanwhile  she  had  come  out  of  the  kitchen 
into  the  shop,  and  she  said,  as  if  she  mistrusted 
something :  "  What  are  you  two  putting  your 
heads  together  about?"  She  suspected  some- 
thing because  it  was  the  night  before  a  holi- 
day and  the  work  was  done. 

My  father  replied :  "  The  boy  wants  to  vol- 
unteer for  the  naval  corps  in  Kiel.  You  must  n't 
be  afraid.  It 's  called  the  sea-battalion  because 
it  has  to  protect  the  coast  fortifications.  And 
besides,  if  he  doesn't  volunteer  he  may  be 
sent  to  the  Russian  frontier,  and  that  is  a  long 
way  off." 

She  went  silently  into  the  kitchen  and  said 
nothing  more  about  it.  But  in  the  fall  she 
gave  me  my  clothes  all  whole  and  clean,  as 
they  should  be,  and  mostly  brand  new.  And 
she  was  quite  contented,  because  Kiel  is  so 
near  Itzehoe.  Our  storekeeper,  who  had  rela- 
tives in  Kiel,  had  told  her,  too,  that  many  sons 
of  good,  skilled  workmen  serve  in  the  marine 
corps. 


II 

PETER  VOLUNTEERS   FOR  AFRICA 

I  liked  being  a  soldier,  especially  when  we 
had  our  training  behind  us.  We  had  nothing 
but  a  good  sort  of  fellows  in  the  room,  and  the 
subordinate  officer  was  disagreeable  only  when 
some  one  was  lazy  or  dirty.  The  lieutenant  we 
did  not  judge  rightly  in  those  days.  After- 
wards, however,  we  learned  that  he  was  a  hero. 
In  the  beginning  of  my  second  year  of  ser- 
vice, in  the  Christmas  holidays,  1903,  I  was 
spending  my  furlough  with  my  parents  at 
Itzehoe,  and  I  danced  at  a  ball  the  night  after 
Christmas  with  Marie  Genthien.  I  had  known 
her  as  a  child,  but  had  never  met  her  since. 
I  did  n't  even  know  that  for  two  years  she 
had  been  out  to  service  in  Holtenau  Street  in 
Kiel.  When  we  were  dancing  together  for 
the  third  time  we  laughed  and  said,  both  at 
the  same  moment,   "  That  goes  well ! "  We 


6  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

neither  of  us  had  the  slightest  thought  that 
anything  serious  would  come  of  it.  On  the 
day  after  New  Year's  I  went  back  to  Kiel,  to 
my  service. 

Two  weeks  later  —  it  was  the  fourteenth  of 
January — I  was  walking  with  Behrens  and 
another  comrade  through  Danish  Street,  when 
Gehlsen,  who  was  now  really  serving  his  year, 
and  in  my  company,  came  toward  us  and  said : 
"  Have  you  read  the  paper  ?  " 

"What  is  it?"  I  said. 

"  In  southwest  Africa  the  blacks,  like  cow- 
ards, have  treacherously  murdered  all  the 
farmers  and  their  wives  and  children." 

I  am  good  in  geography,  but  at  first  I 
was  completely  bewildered  and  asked :  "  Are 
those  murdered  people  Germans?  " 

"  Of  course,"  he  replied,  "  Schlesians  and 
Bavarians  and  all  the  other  German  peoples, 
and  three  or  four  from  Holstein,  too.  And 
now  what  do  you  suppose  we  marines —  " 

Then  I  suddenly  recognized  from  his  eyes 
what  he  wanted  to  say. 

"  We  have  to  go  ! "  I  said. 


PETER  VOLUNTEERS  FOR  AFRICA   7 

He  raised  his  shoulder.  "Who  should,  if 
not  the  marines  ?  "  said  he. 

I  was  silent  a  little  while ;  a  great  deal  was 
going  through  my  mind.  Then  I  was  done 
with  thinking,  and  I  said  :  "  Well,  then  we  '11 
at  it !  "  And  I  was  glad. 

As  I  went  along  I  looked  at  the  people 
who  were  passing,  and  I  wondered  if  perhaps 
they  knew  and  if  they  could  see  in  us  that  we 
were  going  to  the  Southwest  to  be  revenged 
on  a  heathen  people  for  the  German  blood 
that  had  been  spilled. 

One  morning  it  really  came  to  the  point. 
The  major  made  a  long  speech  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  barracks.  This  and  that  had 
happened  out  there.  A  regiment  of  volunteers 
was  to  be  sent  out.  Who  would  go  ?  Nearly 
all  of  us  stepped  forward.  The  physicians  ex- 
amined us  to  see  if  we  were  fit  for  service  in 
the  tropics.  They  found  me  capable  of  ser- 
vice. That  same  afternoon  we  had  dealt  out  to 
us  the  high  yellow  boots  and  the  short  blue 
jackets  or  litewkas.  Thus  equipped  we  went 
immediately  into  the  city. 


8  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

What  a  bowing  and  calling  to  one  another 
there  was  then  !  Though  usually  soldiers  who 
do  not  know  one  another  pass  without  so 
much  as  a  greeting,  this  time  we  were  spoken 
to  by  everybody.  The  85th  were  very  reserved 
because  they  had  to  stay  at  home ;  the  sailors 
spoke  with  dignity,  as  if  every  one  of  them  had 
already  traveled  three  times  around  the  world. 
Many  citizens  spoke  to  us,  too.  They  said  it 
would  be  a  very  interesting  journey  and  would 
be  a  pleasant  memory  for  us  as  long  as  we 
lived,  and  they  wished  us  a  safe  return. 

The  next  day,  when  we  were  to  take  the 
train  at  night  for  Wilhelmshafen,  father  and 
mother  came  over  from  Itzehoe  for  two  hours. 
I  met  them  at  the  station  and  walked  with 
them  along  Holsten  Street  as  far  as  the 
Schlossplatz.  My  father  asked  all  sorts  of 
questions :  whether  there  were  wild  animals 
there;  whether  the  enemy  all  had  guns,  or 
whether  they  still  used  bows  and  arrows ; 
whether  it  was  very  hot  and  malarial  there,  and 
such  things.  I  could  n't  answer  very  much 
to  all  this  because  I  did  n't  know  much  about 


PETER  VOLUNTEERS  FOR  AFRICA   9 

it.  I  took  it  for  granted,  however,  that  it  was 
all  as  he  said,  and  agreed  with  him  in  every- 
thing. We  sat  for  an  hour  in  a  restaurant 
near  the  station,  looking  out  of  the  windows 
at  the  people  who  were  passing,  but  we 
did  n't  talk  much.  My  mother  hardly  spoke 
at  all.  She  stared  at  the  floor  with  great  set 
eyes,  and,  when  she  looked  up,  regarded  me  as 
though  she  should  never  see  me  again.  When 
it  was  time  I  took  them  back  to  the  station. 

When  the  train  for  Hamburg  came,  and 
they  had  to  get  in,  my  father  begged  me  to 
bring  him  home  some  trifle, — a  horn,  or  some 
ornament  worn  by  the  enemy,  or  some  such 
thing.  I  believe  he  had  saved  up  his  request 
so  as  to  have  something  to  say  at  the  last  mo- 
ment. But  my  mother  suddenly  threw  her 
arms  about  me  and  held  me,  weeping.  As  she 
had  n't  embraced  me  since  my  earliest  child- 
hood, I  was  startled,  and  said :  "  What  are  you 
doing,  mother  ?  " 

She  replied :  "  I  do  not  know  whether  I 
shall  see  you  again,  my  son." 

I   laughed  and  shook  her  hands,  saying: 


10  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

"  There  is  no  danger.  I  shall  come  back 
again."  The  parents  of  Behrens  were  at  the 
station,  too. 

When  I  came  back  in  the  dark  to  the  bar- 
racks, everything  was  alive  there.  Parents, 
brothers  and  sisters,  relatives,  sweethearts,  and 
friends  had  come.  They  were  dancing,  drinking 
and  talking.  Among  them  was  one  old  man  who 
had  worn  the  Iron  Cross  since  1870,  and  was 
now  a  foreman  at  the  dock ;  his  boy  was  going 
out  with  us.  He  stood  up  and  spoke  a  few 
words  about  bravery  and  fidelity  to  the  flag, 
just  as  if  we  were  to  fight  a  serious  enemy, 
and  we  enjoyed  listening  to  him.  Yes,  indeed, 
at  his  words  we  became  all  fire  and  flames  and 
readily  forgot  that  we  knew  we  were  going 
to  fight  against  crossbows  and  clubs  of  wood. 
We  wanted  to  fight  honorably,  and,  if  it  had 
to  be,  even  to  die  for  the  honor  of  Germany. 

At  midnight  the  battalion  formed  and  we 
marched  through  the  city  with  a  full  band.  If 
I  live  to  be  a  hundred  years  old  I  shall  never 
forget  that  hour,  when  thousands  of  people 
followed    along  with   us,   pressing   into   our 


PETER  VOLUNTEERS  FOR  AFRICA  11 

ranks,  calling  out  to  us,  greeting  us,  waving 
and  throwing  flowers  at  us,  and  carrying  our 
arms  all  the  way  to  the  station.  The  square  in 
front  of  the  station  was  black  with  people. 

On  the  journey  to  Wilhelmshafen  I  slept 
and  dozed.  The  others  were  tired,  too.  When 
we  arrived,  I  went  with  some  others  into  a 
small  restaurant  and  bought  for  a  great  deal 
of  money  a  very  little  poor  food.  At  four  in 
the  afternoon  we  formed  again  and  marched 
double-file,  fully  equipped,  down  the  long 
narrow  flight  of  steps  leading  from  the  quay 
to  the  deck  of  the  ship,  gazed  at  all  the  time 
by  crowds  of  people  gathered  from  all  the 
country  round.  It  was  a  clear,  bitter  cold, 
winter  day. 


Ill 

THE  VOYAGE 

We  went  down  two  short  flights  of  stairs  and 
came  into  a  rather  large,  low  room,  which  was 
filled  with  an  amazing  number  of  beds.  They 
were  arranged  close  together  in  pairs,  one 
above  and  one  below.  Very  narrow  passage- 
ways ran  between  them  and  along  the  wall.  I 
got  a  lower  berth. 

We  now  put  on  our  beds  everything  we  had, 
our  firearms,  knapsacks,  and  clothes-bags.  We 
packed  and  bustled  about  among  our  things, 
and  from  time  to  time  looked  out  the  port- 
holes at  the  water.  We  were  lively  and  in 
good  spirits,  as  soldiers  always  are  in  new 
quarters,  reminded  only  by  the  continual 
tremor  felt  throughout  the  ship  from  the  mo- 
tion of  the  engine,  that  these  quarters  were 
carrying  us  far  away.  We  ate  at  long  tables 
on  one  side  of  the  same  room,  and  that  night 
we  had  pea  soup  and  coffee. 


THE  VOYAGE  13 

Later  I  went  upstairs  for  a  little  while,  and 
stood  by  the  rail  in  the  lee  of  the  first  cabin 
and  looked  over  to  the  coast.  In  the  darkness 
I  saw  only  a  yellowish,  blurry  glow  from  the 
ship-lights  on  the  black,  restless  waves,  and 
in  the  distance  some  motionless  lights,  prob- 
ably those  of  lighthouses  or  lightships,  and 
in  the  heavens  the  stars.  Then  I  became  op- 
pressed by  the  thought  that  I  should  be  carried 
off  and  could  not  help  myself,  and  that  I 
should  have  to  endure  all  sorts  of  frightful 
things  in  a  foreign  land.  I  got  help  by  swear- 
ing to  God  that  I  would  be  good  and  cheerful 
and  brave,  whatever  happened  to  me. 

The  next  morning,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  there  was  nothing  but  the  dark,  gray 
ocean.  On  the  horizon  there  were  some  clouds 
of  smoke  and  some  little  sails.  We  went  on 
deck  for  roll-call,  and  each  of  us  got  a  uniform 
of  light  brown  linen  called  khaki,  and  a  great 
pot-shaped,  light  brown  cork  helmet,  called 
a  tropical  helmet.  We  laughed  and  admired 
each  other,  then  went  to  our  sleeping-room 
and  tried  on  our  helmets  amid  all   sorts  of 


14  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

nonsense.  After  that  we  fastened  buttons  on 
our  uniforms. 

We  stood  a  great  deal  at  the  portholes, 
looking  out,  and  were  occupied  all  day ;  some 
of  us  were  already  writing  picture  post-cards. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  I  stood  for  a  long 
time  forward  in  the  bow  with  Henry  Gehlsen 
and  talked  with  him  about  our  childhood. 
Then  some  other  one-year  volunteers  came 
up,  among  them  a  physician,  as  I  afterwards 
learned,  and  began  to  talk  to  him.  As  they 
were  soon  talking  of  learned  things  I  went 
off.  As  time  went  on  I  was  often  with  him. 
He  was  small  in  stature,  and  had  a  delicate 
face ;  but  he  was  every  inch  a  man.  Later,  in 
the  bush,  he  showed  himself  prudent,  inge- 
nious, and  brave. 

On  the  second  day  we  stood  at  the  star- 
board rail  and  looked  over  to  the  coast  of 
England,  which  rose  mighty,  steep,  and  rugged 
out  of  the  water  not  far  off ;  and  we  watched 
the  fishing-boats,  which,  with  their  gray  and 
black  sails,  lay  in  great  numbers  on  the  broad, 
ever-moving  ocean.  As  I  looked  at  this  great, 


THE  VOYAGE  15 

extended  picture,  I  thought  that  in  just  such 
or  even  smaller  vessels  our  forefathers  had, 
thousands  of  years  ago,  traversed  the  same 
rough  way  that  we  now  followed,  straight  over 
the  waves,  or  rather  between  them,  and  I 
imagined  the  wild  struggles  that  they  had  to 
go  through  before  they  had  built  their  huts 
and  found  a  home  on  these  forbidding  shores. 
I  thought  of  all  this,  and  was  glad  that  I  had 
had  such  a  good  teacher  and  that  I  was  prob- 
ably the  first  of  all  my  schoolmates  at  Itzehoe 
who  had  seen  this  part  of  the  world  with  his 
own  eyes. 

While  I  stood  there  the  staff  physician 
passed  me,  and  with  him  the  first  lieutenant 
of  the  marines.  They  were  going,  probably,  to 
visit  a  sailor  who  was  sick.  We  had  on  board 
an  officer  in  command  of  the  sailors  who  was 
going  out  as  a  substitute  to  the  Habicht.  They 
stood  a  while  at  the  railing  not  far  from  me, 
and  I  heard  the  first  lieutenant  say  to  the  other 
man :  "  We  seamen  think  differently  about  the 
Englishmen  from  the  people  who  live  inland. 
We  meet  them  in  all  the  ports  of  the  world 


16  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  we  know  that  they  are  the  most  respect- 
able of  all  the  peoples.  There  behind  the  high 
chalk  cliffs  dwells  the  first  nation  of  the  earth, 
—  distinguished,  wise,  brave,  united,  and  rich. 
As  for  us  —  well,  one  of  their  qualities,  bravery, 
we  have  had  for  ages ;  one  other,  riches,  we 
are  slowly  acquiring.  Whether  we  ever  acquire 
the  others — that  is  our  life  problem."  I  won- 
dered over  that  speech,  but  afterwards  the 
old  African  settlers,  whom  I  came  to  know, 
also  spoke  with  the  greatest  respect  of  the 
English. 

The  weather  was  cold,  clear,  and  windy.  We 
saw  small  boats  tossing  up  and  down  on  the 
waves,  but  our  great  ship  didn't  roll  much  and 
only  a  few  of  us  were  a  little  seasick.  I  could 
n't  bear  to  look  up  the  long  deck  and  see  how 
it  slowly  rose  and  then  sank.  It  seemed  to  me 
so  unreasonable  and  unreal,  and  it  gave  me 
an  oppressed  feeling  in  my  head  and  body.  It 
had  the  same  effect  on  others,  too ;  but  when 
I  pulled  myself  together  and  straightened  up 
and  walked  up  and  down,  looking  out  over  the 
sea,  it  passed  off.   When  we  got  out  of  the 


THE  VOYAGE  17 

English  Channel,  though,  opposite  the  realm 
of  Spain,  it  suddenly  got  bad. 

I  was  just  standing  thinking  by  my  bed 
with  Gehlsen  near  me.  We  were  both  looking 
at  a  picture  of  his  parents  which  they  had 
given  him  to  take.  At  that  moment  the  floor 
suddenly  pushed  itself  up  diagonally  under 
our  feet,  while  a  fearful  creaking  and  smash- 
ing and  falling  and  shouting  began  on  all  sides 
of  us.  We  fell  over  each  other  onto  the  bed  and 
tried  in  all  directions  to  find  some  firm  hold. 
With  some  difficulty  we  got  on  our  feet  again 
and  clung  to  the  iron  posts  which  supported 
the  berths,  while  the  other  side  of  the  ship 
went  way  up  against  the  opposite  row  of  beds. 
We  tried  to  get  away  from  between  the  rows 
of  beds  as  though  that  would  be  our  salvation ; 
but  I  had  taken  only  a  few  steps  when  I  be- 
gan to  feel  just  as  I  did  when  I  was  twelve 
years  old  and  had  just  smoked  my  first  cigar. 
A  heavy  feeling  of  oppression  weighed  on  my 
head  and  my  stomach  came  up  and  up,  right 
into  my  throat.  My  courage  and  all  desire  to 
live  vanished  and  drops  of  sweat  fell  from  my 


18  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

forehead.  Stumbling  and  wretched,  I  went 
back  down  the  passage  and  flung  myself  on 
my  bed.  It  was  lucky  that  I  didn't  have  to 
get  into  an  upper  berth. 

It  was  a  bad  night.  Whenever  I  think  of  it 
now,  after  two  years,  it  gives  me  an  awful  feel- 
ing, and  I  have  to  swallow.  My !  what  gagging 
and  vomiting  on  all  sides !  Many  moaned  as 
though  their  last  day  had  come.  Just  one  fel- 
low, who  probably  had  drunk  sea-water  from 
his  nursing  bottle,  or  in  some  other  way  had 
acquired  the  stomach  of  an  ostrich,  laughed 
aloud  from  time  to  time  and  was  cheerful  and 
in  good  spirits;  just  as  if  an  angel  among 
hordes  of  the  damned  were  laughing  in  its 
beautiful  and  safe  blessedness. 

When  I  woke,  towards  morning,  out  of  a 
dull,  heavy  sleep,  it  was  somewhat  smoother. 
Still,  many  were  groaning.  He  of  the  cast-iron 
digestion  was  whistling  softly  and  comfortably. 
Then  I  was  angry  and  scolded  myself.  I  sum- 
moned all  my  will-power,  and  noticed  the 
rising  and  falling  of  the  ship,  and  thought  to 
myself:  "  See !  Here  it  goes  and  there  it  goes ! 


THE  VOYAGE  19 

It  can't  do  otherwise,  and  everything  on  it  and 
in  it  must  go,  too,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
be  done  to  prevent  it.  It  is  nonsense  to  buck 
against  it.  Go  with  it.  That 's  it !  Can't  you 
go  any  further  ?  Then  back  again.  That 's  it ! 
No  further?  Then  back  again  to  the  other 
side."  Talking  that  way  to  myself,  I  began 
to  feel  brighter.  I  listened  to  the  fellow  with 
the  cast-iron  digestion  and  observed  that  in 
his  whistling  he  was  keeping  time  with  the 
motion  of  the  vessel. 

Then  I  noticed  that  I  was  better  and  at  the 
same  time  that  the  air  in  the  room  was  hor- 
rible. I  sat  up  in  bed  very  deliberately  and 
cautiously  put  my  feet  down.  Three  times  I 
got  on  my  feet  and  three  times  I  sat  down 
again.  Then  I  went  stumbling  along  slowly 
and  as  carefully  as  if  I  had  a  stomach  made  of 
thin  glass,  and  arrived  safely  outside.  I  fell 
against  the  rail,  and  clung  to  it  with  both  arms 
while  I  breathed  the  fresh  air  and  stared  dully 
and  stupidly  into  the  gray  twilight. 

And  then,  while  I  stood  there,  mindful  of 
the  throbbing  of  the  ship  and  its  heavy  roll, 


20  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  staring  at  the  huge,  rushing,  foaming 
waves,  I  had  a  piece  of  great  good  luck.  I  saw 
an  immense  sailing-vessel  gliding  along  not  far 
from  us.  With  all  its  monstrous  sails  set  it  lay 
over  before  the  wind,  so  that  in  the  gray  morn- 
ing light  I  could  see  the  whole  deck  and  the 
helmsman  wrapped  in  a  thick  coat  sitting  com- 
fortably on  the  skylight  with  his  short  pipe 
in  his  mouth.  The  ship  rose  and  fell  heavily 
and  powerfully  from  bow  to  stern.  Out  of  two 
of  the  windows  came  a  bright  glow.  So  the 
mighty  vision  passed  in  the  gray  dawn,  down 
the  wild  dark  path  of  the  sea,  without  sound  or 
effort,  beautiful,  as  though  filled  with  a  great, 
peaceful  soul.  I  have  never  seen  anything 
more  beautiful  made  by  man.  It  made  me  well. 
It  grew  warmer  now  every  day,  not  because 
spring  was  coming,  but  because  we  were  going 
south  all  the  time  and  the  sun's  rays  fell  more 
vertically  upon  us.  The  sea  was  smooth,  the 
sun  shone,  and  we  were  very  busy  every  fore- 
noon. A  beam  had  been  set  up  at  the  stern 
with  a  target  fastened  to  it  for  us  to  shoot  at 
with  our  new  rifles.  The  officers  shot,  too,  with 


THE  VOYAGE  21 

revolvers,  and  each  one  bragged  about  his  own 
weapon.  Afternoons  we  sat  about  on  deck 
cleaning  our  guns  or  washing  and  mending 
our  clothes,  and  we  talked  and  sang  while  we 
worked.  Evenings  we  sat  in  a  circle  and  told 
barrack-room  stories,  or  each  one  told  some- 
thing about  his  own  home.  Some  of  them 
could  declaim  pieces  that  they  had  learned  or 
made  up.  All  this  went  on  in  High  German,  and 
they  teased  us  from  Holstein  because,  they  said, 
we  took  the  letter  "s"  between  our  teeth  as  if 
it  were  a  needle.  I  was  glad  that  all  the  na- 
tives of  Schleswig-Holstein  on  board  happened 
to  be  good,  orderly  men.  There  are,  of  course, 
even  in  our  province,  troublesome  people. 

We  naturally  talked  a  good  deal  about  the 
near  future,  and  it  made  us  angry  to  think 
that  the  insurrection  might  perhaps  be  subdued 
before  we  arrived,  and  we  should  n't  even  leave 
the  ship.  We  wanted  at  least  to  land,  so  that 
afterwards  we  could  tell  at  home  about  the 
African  forests,  the  herds  of  monkeys  and 
antelopes,  and  the  straw  huts  under  the  palms. 

Some  of  the  men  played  "  skat"  all  the  time, 


22  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

their  enthusiasm  continually  waxing  greater 
and  their  cards  dirtier.  It  made  no  difference 
to  them  what  was  going  on  around  them. 
They  never  looked  up,  whether  we  said  to 
them, "  Here,  you  fellows !  see  the  flying-fishes ! 
they  are  wheeling  just  like  a  squadron ! "  or 
"  A  big  English  steamer  is  coming ! "  or  "Just 
look  up  and  see  what  a  fine  sunset ;  the  whole 
sea  is  gold  and  green  and  the  waves  have  dark 
blue  crests ! "  or  "  We  see  the  back  of  a  whale ! " 
or  "  Have  you  seen  the  phosphorescence  ?  just 
go  to  the  stern  and  see  the  waves  all  full  of 
warm,  red  fire" ;  they  would  just  shake  their 
heads  impatiently,  or  say,  "  Go  and  look  at  it 
yourself,"  and  play  on.  They  were  not  playing 
for  money. 

There  were  quite  a  good  many  young  boys 
among  us,  twenty  years  old  or  younger.  I  think 
many  of  them  were  pretty  homesick.  And  some 
of  them,  it  seemed  to  me,  were  frightened  at 
the  newness  of  everything  they  saw.  Every- 
thing was  so  astounding  to  them,  almost  un- 
canny, and  they  got  more  and  more  silent.  I 
used  to  wonder  how  these  young,  quiet  ones 


THE  VOYAGE  23 

would  do  if  we  went  into  a  really  hard  war. 
We  went  afterwards  into  a  really  hard  war,  and 
every  one  of  them  made  a  splendid  record  for 
himself.  Others  sat  in  a  corner  and  practiced 
by  the  hour  to  get  up  a  band.  One  had  a  comb, 
another  had  clappers,  a  third  whistled  through 
his  fingers,  our  musicians  contributed  flutes 
and  a  drum,  and  a  little  Schlesian  was  the 
leader.  It  was  he,  too,  who  always  started  the 
songs  which  we  sang  together  every  evening. 
There  was  one  song  we  used  to  sing  that  rang 
out  sadly  far  over  the  water :  "  Nach  der 
Heimat  mocht'  ich  wieder !  "  To  this  day,  when 
I  see  in  memory  the  faces  of  those  who  used 
to  sing  it,  my  heart  stands  still  and  I  have  to 
press  my  lips  together. 

It  was  getting  warmer  and  sunnier  all  the 
time,  and  we  had  reached  the  entrance  to  the 
Strait  of  Gibraltar.  We  took  off  our  blue 
clothes  and  put  on  our  khaki  things.  All  the 
time,  day  and  night,  the  ship  throbbed  with 
the  motion  of  the  engine  as  the  human  body 
does  with  the  beating  of  the  heart.  God  knows 
how  many  times  the  wheels  revolved. 


24  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

So  we  went  on,  always  to  the  south,  with 
the  sea  always  sunny  and  glistening.  I  was 
astonished  that  the  world  was  so  big.  One  day 
I  saw  by  the  chart,  which  hung  in  the  compan- 
ionway,  and  on  which  our  position  was  marked 
each  day,  that  we  should  soon  come  to  the  island 
of  Madeira.  And  indeed,  very  early  the  next 
day,  when  I  went  to  take  a  look  around  on  deck, 
where  many  were  already  assembled,  there  lay 
before  us,  not  far  away,  a  bright-colored  island. 

Rough  rocks  rose  stern  and  bald  before 
us,  and  the  middle  ones  wore  as  a  crown  the 
broad  old  fortifying  walls.  In  front  a  rather 
large  city,  with  white,  flat-roofed  houses, 
stretched  itself  back  toward  the  heights  at  the 
foot  of  the  old  fortification  till  it  was  lost  in 
luxuriant  green,  in  forests  and  fields  of  flowers. 

We  were  coming  nearer  this  wonder  all  the 
time.  We  stood  and  marveled,  and  glided  into 
the  bay  just  as  curious  children  edge  up  to  a 
picture-book,  until  we  lay  directly  before  the 
city..  Then  we  heard  shouting  and  calling 
under  us,  and  looked  down  into  boats  close  by 
the  ship,  which  were  filled  with  men  looking, 


THE  VOYAGE  25 

with  their  dark  skins  and  brilliantly  colored 
clothes,  like  Italians.  They  stood  in  the 
boats  and  held  up  baskets  of  fruit  and  called 
to  us  ;  but  we  did  n't  buy  anything,  for  we 
knew  that  we  should  land. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went,  with  a  lot  of  others, 
down  the  narrow  wooden  steps  that  were  let 
down  over  the  side  into  one  of  our  big  boats, 
and  was  rowed  ashore.  How  novel  and  gay 
everything  was !  Our  lieutenant  had  said  to  us 
in  warning  :  "  I  want  to  say  one  thing  to  you. 
Don't  go  and  buy  everything  you  see.  Not 
everything  that  is  bright  is  beautiful  or  real. 
And  look  out  how  you  drink  the  wine."  But 
it  was  n't  long  before  groups  of  twos  and 
threes  were  standing  in  the  low,  wide-open 
shops  buying  blouses  and  shawls  made  of  glis- 
tening silk,  in  the  most  lovely  colors,  for  sisters 
and  sweethearts.  And  they  called  to  me :  "  You 
must  get  a  souvenir  to  take  home,  Moor.  Per- 
haps the  insurrection  will  be  over  and  we 
shan't  land.  If  you  say  afterwards  at  home 
that  you  were  with  us  and  have  nothing  to 
show,  no  one  will  believe  it."  That  seemed 


26  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

reasonable,  and  I  went  in  and  bought  two  little 
silk  scarfs  for  my  two  oldest  sisters,  for  I  had 
no  sweetheart  and  my  mother  would  never  put 
on  anything  so  bright.  As  we  were  coming  out, 
the  same  lieutenant  who  had  said  so  grandly, 
"  I  warn  you,"  came  by,  and  he  already  had  a 
package  in  his  hand.  I  had  to  laugh  a  little, 
and  he  did,  too. 

It  was  just  as  though  we  all,  upon  landing, 
became  intoxicated  with  a  charmed  wine: 
everything  shone  in  such  splendid  colors,  the 
sun  seemed  so  beautifully  bright  and  soft,  and 
all  the  people  were  so  happy.  I  thought  to  my- 
self :  "  Keep  your  eyes  open  and  see  what  you 
can ;  who  knows  if  you  will  ever  again  get  so 
faraway  from  home?"  I  went  through  several 
streets  and  wondered  over  everything  I  saw, 
even  over  a  long-eared  horse  that  was  going 
along  in  front  of  his  truck,  till  I  realized 
suddenly  that  it  was  a  mule  such  as  I  had 
sometimes  seen  in  pictures.  I  looked  at  the 
foreign  words  on  the  signs  over  the  shops  and 
I  learned  some  of  the  names  on  the  wares.  I 
watched  the  women,  with  their  gay  head  and 


THE  VOYAGE  27 

shoulder  shawls,  and  the  men,  who  wore  bright 
scarfs  around  their  bodies,  and  I  was  surprised 
at  the  pride  shown  in  the  lines  of  their  mouths 
and  at  the  dark  fire  in  their  eyes.  A  soldier 
came  along,  a  handsome  fellow,  but  wearing  a 
slovenly  uniform.  He  raised  his  hand  to  his  cap 
and  looked  at  me  in  a  friendly  fashion,  and  I 
greeted  him  in  the  same  way. 

After  I  had  walked  about  alone  awhile,  I 
came  down  again  to  the  shore  and  found  some 
of  my  comrades  sitting  in  an  open  wine-room, 
close  to  the  street,  almost  on  the  sidewalk. 
They  were  at  little  tables,  zealously  writing 
picture  post-cards  and  drinking  at  the  same 
time  from  small  glasses.  I  sat  down  with  them, 
ordered  a  glass,  and  wrote  a  card  to  my  par- 
ents. I  wanted  to  write  one  to  my  uncle  in 
Hamburg,  but  I  didn't  get  to  it.  I  had  to 
look  around  me  all  the  time.  My  mother  had 
often  scolded  me  for  my  curiosity  when  I  used 
to  open  every  box  and  drawer  in  her  work- 
table  ;  but  when  she  once  complained  of  this 
to  my  teacher,  he  laughed  and  said :  "  That 
is  desire  for  knowledge." 


28  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

After  a  time  some  of  our  men  came  by 
singing  noisily  and  reeling  a  little.  I  begged 
the  others  to  go  along.  The  landlord,  in  a 
red  waistcoat  and  shirtsleeves,  didn't  know 
a  word  of  German,  but  he  did  know  the  Ger- 
man money.  When  I  saw  the  lieutenant  stand- 
ing on  the  quay,  I  was  curious  to  know  if  hje 
had  bought  the  nice  wine  as  well  as  the  pretty 
shawls;  but  when  I  came  near  him  I  could 
see  that  his  eyes  were  drunk  only  with  all  the 
beautiful  gay,  friendly  things  he  had  seen. 
For  a  whole  day,  when  we  were  again  on  the 
ocean,  I  saw  in  a  dreamy  memory  the  hand- 
some people  walking  on  the  gay,  sunny  streets, 
and  in  the  background  the  soft  hills  rising  in 
their  lovely  fresh  fertility. 

On  the  third  morning  after  this  I  was  stand- 
ing, rather  early,  by  the  rail,  waiting  for  the 
morning  drill  and  looking  off  over  the  water, 
absorbed  in  thinking  whether  I  could  discover 
in  the  distance  one  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  which  we  were.  It 
seemed  a  useless  search,  for  it  was  still  misty. 
Then  Behrens,  who  was  standing  near  me, 


THE  VOYAGE  29 

looked  up  suddenly,  and  said  :  "  Look  there  ! 
What  an  extraordinary  white  cloud  that  is !  " 
I  looked  up,  and  saw  high  in  the  sky  a  heavy, 
motionless,  snow-white  cloud,  with  a  soft  sheen 
on  it  like  white  feathers.  I  stood  gazing  and 
thinking,  "  What  a  wonderful  cloud  that  is!" 
when  Gehlsen  came  running  forward,  quick  as 
he  always  was,  and  said,  in  his  brisk,  daring 
way :  "  Do  you  see  it  already  ?  Look  !  That  is 
the  Peak  of  Teneriffe.  It  rises  out  of  the  sea 
to  that  height  and  its  summit  is  white  with 
snow  in  the  burning  glare  of  the  sun."  X  was 
so  startled  that  I  trembled,  —  it  took  such  a 
hold  upon  me,  this  marvel  that  God  had  set 
here  in  the  midst  of  the  broad  expanse  of 
water  under  the  scorching  sun.  We  all  stood 
and  gazed,  some  speaking  aloud,  but  many  of 
us  silent ;  and  as  we  looked  we  saw  the  mist 
up  there  on  the  monstrous  height  part  and  re- 
veal the  smooth,  horribly  steep  rocks  which 
were  piled  one  above  another  like  huge  old 
ramparts.  On  the  topmost  broad,  crumbling 
wall  lay  the  eternal  snows.  Slowly  we  glided 
by  the  stony  base. 


30  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

We  were  still  going  south  night  and  day. 
It  is  wonderful  how  big  the  world  is.  The 
hand  slips  easily  and  quickly  on  the  map  from 
Hamburg  to  Swakopmund ;  but  how  the  en- 
gine works,  monotonously,  untiringly,  day  and 
night,  for  three  long  weeks !  What  strength 
and  will  men  have,  who  are  willing  to  go  so 
far  away  to  live  and  trade  and  explore  and 
govern ! 

We  had  target  practice  now  every  morning 
and  popped  away  by  the  hour.  We  drilled  a 
little,  too,  and  the  spirit  was  always  good.  We 
were  steering  southeast  to  the  African  coast, 
where  we  were  to  take  on  board,  in  passing, 
seventy  negroes,  as  most  of  the  ships  do  which 
go  to  Swakopmund.  These  negroes  are  stokers 
and  trimmers  and  helpers  of  all  sorts  on  the 
way  down,  and  they  load  and  unload  at  Swa- 
kopmund and  then  go  back  again  with  the 
ship  and  are  set  ashore  on  their  own  coast. 

On  the  seventh  day  after  we  passed  Tene- 
riffe,  we  saw  the  coast  of  Africa  rising.  It  was 
just  exactly  as  we  had  imagined  it,  —  pretty 
huts  under  palms,  many  beautiful  tall  trees  on 


THE  VOYAGE  31 

gently  rising  slopes;  and  it  swarmed  with  peo- 
ple. That  all  these  people  were  black  we  could 
not  then  see. 

When  we  were  at  no  great  distance,  Gehlsen 
came  and  told  me  that  the  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers of  these  negroes  had  been  slaves  in 
North  America,  and  that  the  government  there 
had  brought  them  back  to  their  home  again 
and  was  helping  them  to  maintain  a  free  re- 
public. When  he  had  told  me  this,  he  went 
forward  to  see  better,  for  we  were  getting 
pretty  near  now  ;  but  I  ran  down  to  the  cabin 
to  write  a  card,  for  the  mail  was  going  ashore. 
While  I  sat  absorbed  in  my  writing  I  heard  such 
a  shouting  and  exclaiming  and  stupid  shrieking 
and  such  a  slipping  and  pulling  and  sliding 
that  I  sprang  up  and  went  out.  I  was  so  aston- 
ished that  I  stood  staring  with  my  mouth  open, 
for  over  both  sides  were  climbing  like  cats  and 
writhing  like  snakes,  the  negroes,  old  and 
young  men  and  little  boys.  They  were  tall, 
black,  and  half  naked,  with  large  exposed 
teeth  and  wild,  laughing  human  eyes,  wearing 
about  their  breasts  and  bodies  little  bright- 


32  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

colored  cloths  and  carrying  sacks  and  pots 
and  chests.  They  ran  joking  and  laughing 
over  the  deck,  quite  unmindful  of  our  amaze- 
ment, and  crawled  down  in  the  hold,  where 
they  established  themselves.  We  lay  to,  at 
that  place,  only  a  few  hours,  and  then  went 
on  again,  always  to  the  south,  day  after  day 
and  all  through  the  bright  nights. 

On  one  of  these  days  I  went  up  to  the  third 
engineer,  who  was  a  native  of  Eckernford,  and 
asked  him  to  take  me  down  to  the  engine- 
room.  We  went  through  many  passageways 
and  rooms  which  I  did  not  even  know  were 
there,  and  down  short  iron  staircases  which  I 
had  n't  seen,  getting  deeper  and  deeper  into 
the  hold,  where  it  shook  more  and  more  vio- 
lently under  my  feet,  and  where  I  could  hear 
the  heavy  movement  of  the  great  shafts  and 
pistons  more  and  more  plainly.  Then  he  opened 
an  iron  door  and  I  stood  before  the  engine. 
The  biggest  engine  I  had  ever  seen  up  to  this 
time  was  one  in  a  brewery  in  Hamburg.  This 
one  was  five  times  as  big,  with  pistons  as  long 
and  broad  as  the  body  of  a  ten-year-old  boy. 


THE  VOYAGE  33 

They  swung  easily  in  the  cylinders,  and  the  two 
mighty  shafts,  on  the  ends  of  which  are  the 
screws,  revolved  busily.  A  man  in  middle  life, 
rather  fat  and  oily,  whom  I  had  never  seen 
before,  although  we  had  lived  now  three  weeks 
on  the  same  boat,  stood  quietly  on  a  grated 
iron  platform,  which  trembled  violently,  and 
looked  about  him  in  the  midst  of  all  the  rising 
and  falling  and  driving  machinery  as  placidly 
as  a  farmer  in  a  cow-barn  surveys  his  munch- 
ing herd.  I  went,  also,  carefully  along  the 
platform  and  down  a  flight  of  stairs  through 
an  open  trap-door,  to  the  reddish-brown  fur- 
nace-room, in  which  half-naked  men  were 
standing  surrounded  by  coal,  iron-barrows, 
and  hissing  valves,  in  front  of  the  boilers 
under  which  the  great  fires  glowed.  I  looked 
sharply  and  quickly  around  and  would  gladly 
have  stayed  longer,  but  I  felt  ashamed  to  be 
idly  watching  those  men  working  so  hard  in 
the  hot  room. 

In  my  free  time  I  used  often  to  watch  the 
black  men,  and  I  noticed  how  peacefully  they 
sat  together  and  talked  in  gurgling  tones,  and 


34  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

how  they  squatted  around  the  great  pots  of 
food,  stuffing  quantities  of  rice  into  their 
mouths  with  their  fingers,  and  devouring  with 
their  great,  beast-like,  crunching  teeth  their 
meat,  bones,  and  all  indiscriminately.  It  did 
not  seem  to  occur  to  them  to  eat  anything 
on  account  of  the  taste,  but  merely  to  fill 
their  stomachs.  It  seemed  to  me  like  this : 
that  the  people  of  Madeira,  although  they  are 
strangers  to  us,  are  like  cousins  whom  we 
seldom  see ;  but  that  these  blacks  are  quite, 
quite  different  from  us,  so  that  there  could 
be  at  heart  no  possible  understanding  or  re- 
lationship between  us.  There  must  always  be 
misunderstandings  instead. 

As  at  the  beginning  of  the  journey,  we 
talked  now  a  great  deal  about  our  expectations, 
about  the  palms  and  the  monkeys  we  should 
see,  and  the  hides  and  the  birds  and  the 
baskets  we  should  take  home.  We  spoke  again 
about  the  probability  that  the  rebellion  would 
be  over  before  we  got  there. 

As  we  came  near  the  equator  there  was  a 
lot  of  joking  about  it.  Those  who  were  a  little 


THE  VOYAGE  35 

embarrassed  or  dreamy  were  teasingly  told  to 
look  out  and  see  the  line  on  the  water,  and 
to  hold  on  tight  when  we  went  down  hill,  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing.  I  took  no  part  in 
this  teasing,  for  I  am  not  inclined  that  way 
and  I  was  sorry  for  the  fellows  who  were  the 
butt  of  it.  They  were,  indeed,  far  from  being 
stupid  and  thoughtless ;  but  often  those  who 
made  sport  of  them  were  the  stupid  and 
thoughtless  ones  who  were  always  talking  big. 
So  I  used  to  draw  their  ridicule  to  myself  and 
pretended  not  to  see  it.  If  I  wanted  to  I  could 
shake  off  the  dogs,  and  I  used  to  laugh  to 
myself  over  their  barking  and  biting.  Toward 
evening  we  began  to  sing,  and  oftenest  we 
wanted  to  sing  the  third  stanza  of  a  well- 
known  song  which  rang  out  beautifully  over 
the  darkening  ocean :  — 

Doch  mein  Schicksal  will  es  trimmer, 
Durch  die  Welt  ich  wandern  muss. 
Trautes  Heim,  dein  denk'  ich  immer  .  .  . 

At  night  it  was  almost  intolerably  hot  in 
the  cabin.  Some  of  the  men  scolded  about 
it,  but  the  more  reasonable  understood  that  it 


36  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

could  n't  be  otherwise.  If  any  one  once  woke 
up  it  was  nearly  impossible  for  him  to  go  to 
sleep  again.  Once,  when  I  was  lying  there 
sleepless  and  restless,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the 
little  Schlesian  —  the  one  who  liked  to  sing 
and  who  sang  so  well  and  whose  berth  was 
close  at  my  right  hand  — sobbed  aloud.  When 
I  asked  what  was  the  matter  he  was  silent  at 
first  and  then  said,  in  a  gentle,  quiet  voice : 
"  This  traveling  is  getting  tiresome,  don't  you 
think  so?  Always,  day  in  and  day  out,  I  don't 
know  how  many  miles —  it  does  n't  seem  pos- 
sible that  we  shall  ever  find  our  way  back." 
Then  he  lay  quiet  again. 

On  the  seventh  day  after  the  negroes  had 
slipped  over  the  rail,  a  sailor  told  us  in  the 
morning  that  we  should  reach  Swakopmund 
that  day.  So  we  stood  by  the  hour  at  the  bow, 
looking  out ;  but  a  fog  hid  the  coast.  Toward 
noon,  however,  the  fog  lifted,  and  we  saw  on 
the  horizon  some  great  steamers  and  behind 
them  an  endless  strip  of  reddish-white  sand 
lifting  itself  out  of  the  ocean.  The  harsh,  glar- 
ing sun  burned  down  on  the  dunes  and  sea, 


THE  VOYAGE  37 

and  we  thought  at  first  that  it  was  a  bar 
which  lay  off  the  shore  so  that  the  great  city 
of  Swakopmund  and  the  palms  and  lions 
would  n't  get  their  feet  wet;  but  soon,  when 
the  fog  had  entirely  receded,  we  saw  in  the 
glittering  light  some  white  houses  and  bar- 
racks and  a  lighthouse  on  the  bare  sand.  Then 
all  stood  amazed  and  delivered  their  opinions. 
Many  looked  silently  and  soberly  upon  the 
inhospitable,  barren  land;  others  jeered  and 
said :  "  To  come  so  far  for  a  country  like 
that!" 

We  were  not  disembarked  that  day.  Some 
said  we  were  n't  going  ashore  at  all,  that  the 
revolt  had  already  been  put  down ;  others  said 
that  it  would  last  a  long  while  yet.  There  was 
great  uneasiness  and  talking  back  and  forth 
among  us.  Flag  signals  were  energetically  ex- 
changed until  nightfall  between  us  and  the 
cruiser  Habicht.  We  lay  that  night,  rocking 
in  a  pretty  heavy  swell,  off  Swakopmund. 


IV 

BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL 

Very  early  the  next  morning  we  got  over  the 
rail  and  climbed  in  order  down  the  rope-lad- 
der to  the  great  flatboat  which  rose  and  sank 
certainly  seven  yards  on  the  heavy  waves. 
Each  man  had  his  knapsack  and  his  white 
sleeping  blanket  on  his  back,  his  gun  on  his 
shoulder,  his  cartridge-belt,  from  which  hung 
the  water-sack,  around  his  waist,  and  his 
bread-bag  and  army  flask  hanging  from  a 
strap.  We  had  to  look  out  that  we  let  go  the 
rope-ladder  at  just  the  right  time,  when  the 
boat  was  on  the  crest  of  a  wave  ;  but  although 
I  did  it  right  I  fell  heavily  against  the  gun- 
wale. When  the  flatboat  had  twenty  or  thirty 
men  in  it,  it  was  fastened  to  a  little  low  tug- 
boat and  we  were  towed  to  land. 

The  nearer  we  came  to  the  shore  the  rougher 
became  the  water.  The  boat  flung  itself  more 


BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       39 

and  more  violently  through  surging,  leaping 
surf.  We  lay  often  between  two  billows  which 
ran  so  high  that  we  could  n't  see  anything  of 
the  steamer  in  front  of  us.  The  next  moment 
we  were  on  top  of  a  wave  and  thought  we 
should  be  pitched  down  into  the  trough.  At 
last  we  went  through  mere  froth  and  foam, 
which  leaped  high  around  us  and  threw  spray 
over  us  till  we  were  wet  through  and  through. 
For  a  time  the  boat  was  so  pounded  up  and 
down  on  the  heavy,  choppy  wa^es  that  I 
thought  it  would  be  dashed  to  pieces.  Many 
of  the  men  were  taken  suddenly  and  violently 
seasick  and  lay  deathly  pale  on  the  bottom  of 
the  boat.  But  after  a  while  we  got  out  of  that 
part  into  smooth  water  and  went  ashore. 

Through  everlastingly  deep,  hot  sand,  un- 
der a  scorching  sun,  with  about  sixty  pounds 
apiece  on  our  backs,  we  marched  inland.  We 
had  thought  that  all  Swakopmund  would  be 
standing  on  the  beach,  overjoyed  that  help 
had  at  last  arrived ;  but  not  a  single  human 
being  was  there.  We  passed  isolated  houses 
which  stood  there  on  the  bare  sand,  but  not 


40  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

a  soul  showed  himself  to  offer  us  a  friendly 
greeting.  When  we  chanced  to  get  sight  of 
any  one  near  by  or  far  off  in  the  shadow  of  a 
veranda,  it  seemed  to  us  that  he  looked  at  us 
indifferently  and  even  scornfully.  Behind  us 
we  could  hear  the  pounding  of  the  surf,  —  it 
already  sounded  almost  lovely  to  us,  —  and 
around  us  as  far  as  we  could  see  there  was 
nothing  but  barren,  hot  sand,  on  which  the 
sun  burned  with  a  hard  glare.  We  could  hardly 
keep  our  eyes  open,  and  a  hot,  dry  feeling 
cramped  our  throats.  We  were  pretty  quiet. 

We  reached  the  big  sandy  station  and 
watched  our  train  with  astonishment  and  mis- 
trust as  it  drew  in,  rattling  and  creaking.  It 
was  made  up  of  an  endless  string  of  little 
rough  sand-cars,  in  front  of  which  were  at- 
tached five  or  seven  tiny  engines.  We  were 
divided  among  the  cars  and  got  in.  Then, 
amid  puffing  and  joggling  and  rattling,  the 
train  started  slowly  toward  the  interior. 

We  went  up  grade  all  the  time,  hour  after 
hour.  As  far  as  we  could  see  ahead  and  on 
both  sides  there  was  nothing  but  yellowish 


BY  RAILWAY   TO  THE  CAPITAL       41 

white  sand  dunes,  which  sometimes  rose  to  a 
great  height.  We  stood  and  squatted  and  sat 
tightly  crowded  in  the  little  open  cars.  As  the 
oppressive  heat  made  us  thirsty  all  the  time, 
we  were  continually  and  improvidently  open- 
ing our  water-sacks.  We  were  just  as  improvi- 
dent in  throwing  away  the  coffee  we  had 
brewed  in  the  station  at  Swakopmund  when 
we  tasted  it  and  found  it  had  got  sour. 
Once  or  twice  we  stopped  in  order  to  limber 
up  our  legs,  which  were  lame  with  standing  or 
sitting.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  grade  be- 
came so  steep  that  the  train  was  divided  into 
three  sections,  so  that,  part  by  part,  it  could 
get  up  the  steep  heights.  As  we  all  pushed, 
this  was  accomplished  without  accident.  Then 
we  went  along  somewhat  faster  again,  still 
through  the  yellow  sand  dunes  and  still  up 
hill  all  the  time. 

In  the  evening  we  reached  the  top  of  the 
ascent.  Behind  us  the  yellow,  sandy  road  de- 
scended to  the  sea,  about  twenty-five  miles  in 
the  distance.  Right  before  us  stood  a  mon- 
strous, horribly  wild  mountain  range.  I  had 


42  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

never  seen  mountains.  Not  only  I  myself  and 
the  other  North  Germans,  but  also  the  Bava- 
rians were  amazed  at  the  sight.  Quite  close 
in  front  of  us  and  also  receding  into  the  dis- 
tance, huge  naked  rocks  rose  to  the  sky.  Some 
were  lighted  up  by  the  evening  sun  and  shone 
bright  and  hard ;  others,  gloomy  and  fearful, 
hung  menacing,  often  directly  over  us.  On  all 
sides  were  evidences  of  the  mighty  powers 
that  had  ruled  of  old*,  that  had  knocked  off 
pieces  of  rock  and  precipitated  them  into  the 
depths,  and  had  left  other  pieces,  already  split 
away,  hanging  at  a  frightful  height,  as  though 
they  might  plunge  down  at  any  moment.  Lit-, 
tie  powers  could  not  exist  here.  We  did  n't  see 
a  shrub  or  even  a  spear  of  grass,  and  not  an 
animal.  We,  the  only  living  beings,  were  roll- 
ing along  through  this  immense,  dead  wonder- 
work, on  our  little  creaking  cars,  ridiculous  to 
look  upon. 

We  stopped  at  a  little  station,  a  house  made 
of  corrugated  sheet  iron,  and  boiled  some 
coffee  and  rice  for  ourselves.  When  we  got 
on  board  again  we  were  ordered  to  take  the 


BY   RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       43 

barrel-covers  off  our  guns  and  to  load.  I  did 
it  with  a  very  disagreeable  feeling.  We  pro- 
ceeded amid  loud  confusion,  which  resounded 
harshly  and  hideously  into  the  light  gray 
night.  We  were  passing  along  a  deep,  nar- 
row valley  between  high  rocks  on  both  sides. 
Many  of  us  were  crouching,  drunk  with  sleep  ; 
some  were  standing,  others  sitting  on  the  edge 
of  the  car ;  every  one  had  his  white  woollen 
blanket  around  him.  We  didn't  say  much. 
Many  were  probably  at  home  in  thought  or 
saw  themselves  coming  home  and  telling-  of 
all  the  wonders  they  had  seen.  Many,  very 
likely,  were  thinking  how  the  enemy  could  shoot 
down  from  every  rock  upon  our  little  hand- 
ful of  men,  while  we  slowly  passed  by,  almost 
defenseless.  So  we  brooded,  weary,  hungry, 
and  all  used  up.  In  the  broad,  clear  sky  num- 
berless twinkling  stars  shone  out  of  a  bright 
blue  ground.  That  was  indeed  a  beautiful, 
sublime  picture.  Still  it  was  not  as  beautiful 
nor  as  impressive  nor  as  peaceful  as  in  my 
native  land.  We  traveled  all  night,  and  it  was 
disagreeably  cold. 


44  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  next  day, 
which  again  was  hot  and  sunny,  we  were  still 
passing  through  the  valleys  of  that  horrible, 
bare  mountain  range.  As  we  thought  we 
should  be  able  to  refill  our  water-sacks  at  one 
of  the  next  stations,  we  drank  until  our  sup- 
ply was  gone.  But  when  at  noon  we  really  did 
stop  at  a  station  for  the  engine  to  take  in 
water,  and  we  were  permitted  to  take  water 
for  ourselves,  we  could  not  drink  it,  for  it  was 
repulsively  salt.  By  that  time  we  were  out  of 
bread,  too.  We  boiled  a  handful  of  our  rice 
half  tender  and  ate  it,  and  we  cleaned  out  our 
utensils  a  little  with  sand.  Then  we  went  on. 
Many  a  one  seized  upon  the  strong  potion 
which  he  had  in  his  knapsack,  although  it  was 
forbidden  to  touch  it.  But  thirst  was  much 
worse  than  hunger.  We  had  no  moisture  in 
our  mouths  to  wet  our  lips  a  little.  Our  breath 
came  dry  and  hot  through  our  parched  mouths, 
and  the  burning  dryness  penetrated,  as  though 
with  spurs  and  prickles,  ever  deeper  into  our 
throats. 

In  the  afternoon  we  emerged  at  last  from 


BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       45 

the  mountains  into  a  wide  plain.  We  stretched 
our  necks  as  far  as  we  could  when  we  came 
out,  for  we  thought,  now  that  we  had  finally 
left  behind  us,  first  the  rising  dunes  and  then 
the  wild  mountains,  that  groves  of  palms 
must  appear.  But  what  we  saw  was  a  broad 
plateau  of  reddish  yellow  earth,  sparsely  grown 
with  coarse,  yellow,  dry  grass,  which  waved 
like  rye  as  high  as  a  man's  knee.  In  the  grass 
were  scattered,  at  first  thinly,  then  more 
thickly,  tough,  thorny  bushes,  ranging  from 
the  height  of  a  man  to  three  or  four  yards. 
At  last  they  were  so  close  together  that  their 
tops  touched  one  another. 

In  the  distance  we  suddenly  saw  isolated 
cones  of  mountains,  rising,  here  and  there, 
abruptly  out  of  the  broad  plain.  Once  or  twice 
we  saw  before  us  in  the  far,  far  distance, 
raised  a  little  from  the  plain  and  glistening  in 
the  hot,  trembling  air,  that  which  we  longed  to 
see,  —  high,  fruitful  trees  and  blue  surfaces 
like  ponds.  But  they  vanished  again ;  they 
were  mirages. 

Although  we  were  far  from  being  pleased 


46  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

with  what  we  saw,  we  were  in  a  somewhat 
better  mood.  There  was  always  something  to 
be  seen.  A  strange,  deer-like  animal  chased 
in  herds  through  the  long,  waving,  yellowish 
grass;  or  an  unfamiliar,  brilliantly  colored 
bird  flew  up.  The  pointed  mountain  cones 
stood  out  sharply  in  the  sun,  and  we  saw 
plainly  on  their  slopes  or  at  their  bases  jagged 
heaps  of  stones  which  had  slid  down  from  the 
heights.  As  we  advanced,  the  grass  and  bushes 
got  a  little  softer  and  the  prospect  a  little 
more  pleasing.  Everything  we  saw,  whether 
near  or  far,  was  sharply  outlined  in  the  won- 
derfully clear  air. 

We  had  become  rather  more  cheerful,  in 
spite  of  our  thirst,  when  we  arrived  at  the 
first  stopping-place  which  the  negroes  had 
destroyed.  They  had  burned  out  the  modest 
house,  torn  down  the  tin  roof,  smashed  the  lit- 
tle household  furniture,  and  taken  everything 
else  with  them.  In  the  meagre  little  garden, 
where  one  could  still  see  traces  of  the  care 
with  which  German  hands  had  tended  it,  lay 
a  heap  of  white  stones.  There,  buried  three 


BY   RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       47 

feet  deep  in  the  barren  soil,  lay  the  settler  and 
his  wife,  who  had  been  attacked  and  killed  by 
the  negroes.  The  five  or  six  sailors  from  the 
Habicht,  who  at  the  time  held  possession  of  the 
place,  had  nailed  together  a  cross  out  of  pieces 
of  boxes  and  had  written  upon  it  with  a  dull 
pencil  the  names  of  the  killed  and  the  words, 
"  Fallen  by  the  hand  of  the  murderer."  The 
windows  they  had  fortified  with  tin  cement 
tubs  and  with  sacks  full  of  sand. 

The  sailors  were  very  serious  and  quiet. 
Their  uniforms  were  dirty  and  entirely  spoiled. 
One  of  them  stepped  up  to  the  car  in  which  I 
sat,  and  said :  "  You  '11  find  a  good  deal  of 
work  to  do  still.  We  have  n't  been  out  of  our 
clothes  for  three  weeks." 

I  said  :  "  We  know  very  little ;  what  is  the 
state  of  things?" 

"  What  is  the  state  of  things  ?  "  he  repeated. 
"  We  have  had  heavy  losses." 

"Dead?"  asked  one  of  our  number. 

"Dead  !  "  said  the  sailor,  surprised.  "  In  the 
last  weeks  we  have  lost  more  than  forty  dead. 
They  shoot  well  and  with  good  guns,  —  with 


48  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

those,  in  fact,  sold  them  by  us,  or  taken  from 
our  magazines,  or  off  our  dead." 

"  Is  that  so  ?  "  we  said. 

"  I  wish  you  all  may  get  back  to  your 
mothers,"  he  said. 

The  day's  journey  was  again  long  and 
thirsty,  and  we  were  completely  exhausted. 
Toward  evening  we  came  to  a  larger  station, 
and  slept  on  the  ground,  wrapped  in  our  blan- 
kets with  our  knapsacks  under  our  heads,  in 
barracks  built  of  corrugated  iron.  When  I 
awoke,  early,  before  dawn,  my  next  neighbor, 
a  little  quiet  Thuringian,  noticed  it  and  said 
to  me  in  a  low  voice :  "  I  don't  know  what  will 
happen  if  I  never  get  home  again.  I  am  the 
eldest,  with  five  brothers  and  sisters,  and  my 
father  is  sickly.  When  he  dies  I  must  be  there 
to  take  care  of  all  the  others." 

"  You  will  get  home,  all  right,"  said  I. 

"  I  must,"  he  replied. 

Then  he  lay  still,  and  when  I  turned  my 
head  a  bit  to  one  side  he  was  looking  up  with 
wide-open  eyes.  I  don't  believe  he  saw  the  tin 
roof  at  which  he  gazed,  but  instead  he  saw 


BY   RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       49 

the  living-room  and  the  barn  of  his  parental 
home. 

That  morning,  when  I  was  walking  about 
the  station  building,  I  saw  the  first  of  the 
enemy,  a  prisoner  and  his  wife.  He  was  a  tall 
man  with  a  strong,  proud  body,  half-naked, 
with  a  vacant,  indifferent  expression  in  his  pas- 
sive but  dismal  face.  The  woman  was  elderly 
and  very  ugly.  At  noon  the  next  day  we  con- 
tinued the  journey  through  the  same  flat  land, 
which  was  now,  however,  somewhat  more  fer- 
tile and  had  long  yellow  grass,  and  bushes,  and 
even  occasional  trees  growing  on  it ;  but  every- 
thing was  still  dried  up  and  of  a  grayish  green 
color.  The  stations  we  now  passed  were  almost 
all  destroyed,  and  near  many  a  one  lay  a  heap 
of  white  stones  which  indicated  a  grave.  In 
the  middle  of  the  night  we  reached  a  great  sta- 
tion building,  the  windows  of  which  had  been 
walled  up  into  loopholes.  In  three  or  four 
sheds  of  corrugated  iron  a  lot  of  provisions 
had  been  piled  up.  In  the  square  court  of  a 
fortification  which  was  there  we  had  at  last  a 
real  meal,  —  pea  soup,  and  meat  and  rice. 


50  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

On  the  next  day,  the  fourth  and  last  of  our 
journey,  the  country  became  more  fruitful  and 
more  attractive.  Near  by  and  in  the  distance 
groups  of  tall  trees  which  looked  like  oaks 
were  to  be  seen  from  time  to  time  in  the  high 
grass.  Among  them  ran  a  broad  strip  of  yel- 
low sand,  the  dried-up  bed  of  a  river.  There 
for  the  space  of  three  days  in  December  of  the 
year  before  waves  had  danced  along,  leaving 
traces  still  to  be  seen  in  the  sand;  but  now  it 
was  entirely  dry,  and  would  stay  so  for  a  year, 
and  perhaps  for  three.  It  was  just  so  with  all 
the  rivers  we  had  come  across  in  this  country ; 
they  were  strips  of  sand  half  a  yard  or  a  yard 
lower  than  the  plain. 

I  rather  liked  the  landscape  through  which 
we  passed  on  this  fourth  day.  Two  kinds  of 
antelopes,  a  smaller  and  a  larger,  like  deer, 
would  sometimes  run  alone,  or  in  herds,  across 
the  bare  places  in  the  brush.  Strange  gray-and- 
white-speckled  birds,  somewhat  bigger  than 
partridges,  flew  over  the  bushes  and  down 
again.  Clumps  of  beautiful,  stately  trees  stood 
in  the  midst  of  the  soft  green,  and  from  a  dis- 


BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       51 

tance  the  green  mountain  slopes  formed  a 
far  from  unpleasing  sight.  But  my  comrades 
didn't  like  the  country;  I  think  it  was  n't 
strange  and  wonderful  enough  for  them.  They 
wanted  Africa  to  look  entirely  different  in 
every  particular  from  their  native  land. 

In  the  afternoon  we  reached  the  capital 
city.  It  was  small,  spread  out,  and  quite  irregu- 
larly built.  Here  and  there  on  the  sandy  gray 
earth  were  flat-roofed  white  houses,  among 
which  stood  occasional  sorry-looking  trees.  We 
panted  under  our  heavy  packs  through  sand 
and  sun  up  to  the  fort,  which  was  situated  on 
a  moderately  high  hill,  and  there  in  the  court- 
yard, which  was  full  of  life,  we  broke  ranks. 

What  a  life  it  was  that  we  now  entered  upon ! 
For  four  days  we  hadn't  had  our  clothes  off 
or  washed  ourselves,  and  for  three  days  we 
hadn't  had  a  really  good  swallow  of  water. 
Here  in  the  wall  of  the  courtyard  were  fau- 
cets with  warm,  almost  hot  water  from  the 
mountain  running  out  of  them.  How  quickly 
we  got  our  clothes  off  and  how  joyfully  we 
washed,  and  played  the  water  over  ourselves ! 


52  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

How  quickly  we  forgot  our  thirst  and  dirt ! 
And  how  curiously  we  looked  about  us ! 

The  home  guards  were  going  about  in  their 
cord  uniforms :  brown  velvet  coats,  full  trou- 
sers and  riding-boots,  and  soft  gray  hats.  Most 
of  them  had  already  been  for  years  in  the 
country.  Sick  or  wounded,  or  detailed  to  ac- 
company us  to  the  enemy,  as  guides,  they  were 
walking  back  and  forth,  some  idle  and  some 
occupied.  We  talked  to  them  while  we  were 
washing  ourselves,  and  asked  them  how  mat- 
ters stood.  They  were  somewhat  stiff,  as  old 
campaigners  are,  especially  if  one  asks  them 
all  sorts  of  silly  questions,  as  some  of  us  did. 
However,  when  I  addressed  one  of  them,  a  ser- 
geant, with  intelligence  and  respect,  he  told 
me  of  the  enemy's  cruelty  toward  the  farmers, 
of  the  heavy  losses  in  the  last  fight,  and  of 
the  position  of  the  enemy.  The  sergeant  was 
a  Hamburg  man  named  Hansen.  Just  then  a 
lot  of  our  men  came  up. 

There  were  some  women  captives  in  the  yard 
of  the  fort,  and  some  of  them  were  young  and 
not  ugly ;  but  most  of  them  were  faded  and 


BY   RAILWAY  TO  THE  CAPITAL       63 

hideous.  They  took  washing  to  do  for  the 
soldiers,  and  lounged  about  with  short  pipes 
in  their  mouths,  and  were  very  dirty.  I  did  n't 
like  it  that  some  of  our  men  went  right  up  to 
them  and  joked  with  them  by  means  of  signs 
and  some  English  and  Low-German  words. 

There  were  Boers  there,  too,  stately,  brown, 
long-bearded  men  in  khaki  or  cord  uniforms. 
The  German  government  had  engaged  them 
as  wagoners.  Strong  four-wheeled  wagons, 
called  Cape  wagons,  covered  with  linen  hoods, 
stood  outside  in  front  of  the  court.  These 
wagons  were  to  go  out  with  us  next  day  and 
drag  provisions  and  fodder  for  us  into  the 
wilderness. 

We  slept  that  night  in  the  yard  of  the  fort. 
Before  I  went  to  sleep  I  thought  for  a  long 
time  of  my  parents,  and  of  Itzehoe,  and  of  my 
life  up  to  now.  It  came  to  me  that  it  was 
probably  more  than  a  whole  year  since  I  had 
said  my  prayers,  and  I  resolved  to  begin  again. 


THE  JOURNEY  INLAND  ON  FOOT 

The  next  morning,  while  it  was  still  dark, 
we  broke  camp.  We  were  to  surround  the 
enemy  to  the  northeast  in  a  great  arc,  so  that 
they  couldn't  escape  into  English  territory 
with  their  own  and  their  stolen  herds  of  cattle. 
For  the  present,  only  one  company  with  four 
small  cannon  was  marching ;  the  others  were 
to  follow  in  a  few  days. 

Our  guides,  the  home  guards,  went  on 
ahead,  mounted  on  pretty  good  shaggy  horses, 
their  guns  resting  in  leather  pockets  on  the 
right  leg.  They  were  for  the  most  part  old 
African  settlers,  farmers,  who  had  been  called 
out  as  militiamen.  Next  rode  the  captain  with 
the  officers.  Then  came  the  long  row  of 
wagons  and  the  artillery. 

The  great  wagons,  drawn  by  long  teams  of 
oxen,  rumbled  clumsily  along.  Now  the  high, 


THE  JOURNEY  INLAND  ON  FOOT     55 

heavy  wheels  would  grind  into  the  deep  sand ; 
now  a  wheel  would  climb  up  on  a  stone  lying 
in  the  rut  and  would  fall  back  into  position 
while  the  wagon  creaked  and  groaned  in  every 
part.  Black  drivers  ran  alongside,  calling  to 
each  ox  by  name  and  cracking  the  enormous 
whips  which  they  held  in  both  hands.  Behind 
each  wagon,  which  with  its  team  was  perhaps 
fifty  yards  long,  marched  a  division,  in  dust 
and  sand  (when  possible  just  outside  the 
wagon  track),  with  guns  slung  over  their 
shoulders  and  cartridge-belts  around  their 
waists.  Single  horsemen,  officers,  rode  along 
at  intervals  near  us.  Last  came  the  so-called 
rear  guard,  half  a  platoon.  The  country  was 
for  the  most  part  covered  with  more  or  less 
dense  brush  as  tall  as  a  man.  So  we  proceeded 
in  an  everlastingly  long  train  along  a  road 
which  was  indicated  only  by  old  and  new 
wagon-tracks.  From  time  to  time  a  wagon 
stopped  because  the  harness  of  the  oxen  had 
got  out  of  order,  or  because  a  wheel  had  sunk 
too  deep  into  a  rut,  or  because  an  ox  had 
collapsed  and  had  to  be  unharnessed. 


56  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

Already,  on  this  first  day,  the  sun  shone 
dry  and  hot.  The  road  was  quite  hilly  and 
full  of  unevennesses  besides.  At  eleven  o'clock, 
when  the  heat  was  becoming  unbearable,  we 
fortunately  reached  a  beautiful  shady  place, 
where  we  halted.  Not  far  from  here  a  fine, 
stately  farmhouse  had  been  totally  ruined  by 
the  blacks :  the  windows  had  been  torn  out ; 
the  heavy,  well-made  furniture  had  been 
smashed  to  pieces ;  and  many  books  were 
strewn  about,  soiled  and  torn.  We  boiled,  each 
mess  company  for  itself,  a  little  rice  for  din- 
ner, and  lay  down  to  rest  in  the  shade  of 
the  wagons.  In  the  afternoon  we  went  on, 
marching  till  late  in  the  evening. 

In  a  clearing  we  formed  a  camp  and  forti- 
fied it  by  stationing  the  wagons  in  a  square 
around  it.  Besides  that,  we  built,  about  fifty 
yards  outside  the  wagons,  at  each  of  the  four 
points  of  the  compass,  a  little  crescent-shaped 
barricade  of  bush  with  the  big  curve  pointing 
out.  In  each  barricade  were  placed  an  under 
officer  and  three  men.  The  officer  had  to  stand 
in  the  middle  of  the  barricade,  with  two  of 


THE  JOURNEY  INLAND  ON  FOOT  57 

the  men  lying  diagonally  back  of  him,  and 
the  third  man  had  to  walk  back  and  forth 
through  the  bushes  to  the  next  barricade,  a 
distance  of  about  four  hundred  yards.  It  was 
known  that  many  of  the  enemy  were  in  the 
vicinity. 

I  belonged  for  the  night  to  post  number 
two,  and  lay  until  eight  o'clock  on  the  ground 
behind  the  under  officer,  and  listened,  my  gun 
at  hand.  From  a  distance  out  of  the  bush 
came  the  howling  of  strange  wild  animals.  It 
began  soft  and  low  and  grew  higher  and 
hoarser.  Between  whiles  resounded  another 
sort  of  howl,  coarser  and  more  jerky.  Now 
and  then  a  dry  branch  cracked.  Is  it  the 
sentry  returning  from  the  other  post  ?  Is  it 
the  enemy  ?  Is  it  an  animal  ?  The  sentry  comes 
up  slowly  and  cautiously.  He  bends  down  a 
little  and  reports,  in  a  low  tone,  inside  the 
barricade,  "  Back  from  patrol.  All  clear."  It 
was  a  very  dark  night. 

Shortly  afterwards  it  became  my  turn  to  walk 
up  and  down  till  morning.  I  got  up  and  groped 
carefully  along,  often  standing  still  and  strain- 


58  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

ing  my  ears  toward  the  dark  bushes  surround- 
ing me.  When  I  came  to  the  next  post,  I 
reported  and  came  back  the  same  way.  Often 
I  thought  surely  that  a  dark  body  was  cower- 
ing there  somewhere  by  a  bush  in  the  grass. 
My  heart  beat  wildly.  A  branch  broke  behind 
me.  I  retreated  with  light,  careful  tread,  so  that 
I  had  a  bush  at  my  back,  and  watched  atten- 
tively on  all  sides.  When  all  was  quiet  again 
I  went  cautiously  on.  My  eyes  turned  hastily 
this  way  and  that  like  mice  in  a  trap. 

On  my  third  trip  a  shot  fell  in  front  of  me 
in  the  direction  of  the  next  post.  The  short 
report  pierced  the  still  darkness  of  the  night. 
I  fell  on  one  knee,  raised  my  gun,  and  waited 
till  I  should  see  an  object  to  aim  at.  As  I  lay 
there  the  men  ran  out  of  the  wagon  fort  to 
the  aid  of  the  post.  I  heard  their  voices;  then 
their  shots  flashed  at  one  side  of  me.  The 
whole  camp  was  in  motion ;  I  heard  commands 
and  hot  firing.  I  lay  and  waited  certainly  half 
an  hour  or  more  and  did  not  fire,  for  I  saw 
nothing  to  aim  at.  Then  it  was  still. 

I  rose  and  went  on  slowly  and  cautiously, 


THE  JOURNEY  INLAND  ON  FOOT   59 

that  I  might  not  be  accidentally  taken  for  an 
enemy  and  be  shot.  I  reached  the  barricade 
safely  and  reported.  There  was  only  one  man 
there.  I  asked  him  softly  where  the  others  were. 
He  replied  just  as  quietly  that  they  had  gone 
out  at  the  first  shot  to  help  the  men  who  were 
attacked,  and  had  not  returned.  Then  I  went 
back  again. 

So  I  wandered  back  and  forth  in  the  quiet 
night  as  I  had  been  told  to  do,  and  each  time 
I  came  to  the  other  post  I  stooped  and  looked 
into  the  barricade  and  found  always  only  the 
one  man,  who  stood  erect,  his  gun  on  his  arm, 
and  peered  into  the  darkness.  When  I  asked 
him  softly,  "The  others?"  he  turned  his  head 
quickly  toward  me,  raised  his  hand  warningly, 
and  looked  out  again  into  the  night  without 
saying  a  word.  Then  I  thought  that  there  had 
been  some  mishap. 

I  went  up  and  down  till  the  darkness  began 
to  grow  grayer  and  grayer,  and  little  voices 
began  to  chirp  in  the  bushes,  and  in  the  east 
the  morning  light  began  to  mount  in  five  rosy 
stripes.   Then  came  the  relief  for  the  sentries. 


60  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

When  I  came  into  camp  and  was  going  to 
my  mess  division,  who  were  sitting  around  the 
hole  where  they  had  their  fire,  and  I  was  look- 
ing casually  about  me,  —  for  the  whole  picture 
was  new  to  me,  the  great  heavy  wagons,  the 
old  Africans  in  high  boots  and  shirtsleeves 
around  their  fire-holes,  the  two  tents  of  officers, 
the  black  drivers  squatting  in  a  corner,  talking 
and  laughing,  —  and  was  about  to  open  my 
mouth  and  ask  cheerfully  and  braggingly : 
"  Well,  what  was  the  firing  about  last  night  ?  " 
—  just  at  that  moment  the  whole  camp  sud- 
denly stood  up  and  looked  with  earnest,  wide- 
open  eyes  toward  one  end,  where  many  soldiers 
were  gathering  and  gazing  down  at  the  ground. 
And  some  one  said :  "  You  see  ?  There  it  is." 

I  knew  then  what  had  happened.  I  went 
with  them  to  where  the  crowd  was, — and  my 
feet  were  very  heavy,  —  and  there  I  saw  three 
comrades  lying  on  the  ground,  their  breasts 
bloody,  their  mouths  open,  and  their  eyes  star- 
ing and  dull.  A  subordinate  offtcer  who  had 
come  up  behind  me  said :  "  Those  are  the  men 
from  post  number  three."  We  stood  and  looked 


THE  JOURNEY  INLAND  ON  FOOT   61 

down  upon  them.  More  joined  the  crowd.  We 
did  not  speak  a  word.  An  officer  came  and 
sent  us  away. 

Some  hours  later  the  dead,  wrapped  in  their 
woollen  blankets,  were  buried  on  a  little  hill. 
Eight  men  shot  into  the  air  over  their  open 
grave  in  their  honor.  The  captain  said  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  Then  we  sat  silent  and  de- 
pressed around  our  cooking-holes. 

We  stayed  three  or  four  days  in  this  place, 
for  orders  had  come  for  us  to  wait  here  for  the 
major,  who  was  following  with  the  other  com- 
pany. We  had  to  have  a  lot  of  drill;  musketry 
practice,  practice  in  bush  fighting,  and  the  like. 
Moreover,  our  cooking  made  a  good  deal  of 
work,  for  we  were  awkward  and  unnecessarily 
particular  about  it.  Every  mess  —  there  were 
in  each  at  most  six  men  —  made  itself  as  fine 
a  cooking-hole  as  possible,  and  with  much  skill 
and  much  more  talk,  dug  a  knee-deep  gutter 
in  a  circle  around  it,  into  which  each  of  us 
could  stick  his  feet,  so  that  we  could  sit  quite 
comfortably.  Some  of  the  mess  companies 
prided  themselves  mightily  on  such  earthworks. 


62  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

Then  one  fellow  —  and  it  had  to  be  one  with 
a  good  grip  and  the  gift  of  gab  —  had  to 
fetch  the  rations  from  the  wagons :  rice,  meat, 
wheat  flour,  salt,  and  coffee.  Others  had  to 
collect  dry  wood  from  the  bush  around  the 
camp,  and  still  others  had  to  fetch  water  from 
deep  water-holes  in  the  steep,  black  rocks. 
Thus  every  one  had  his  share  of  the  work. 

One  difficult  matter  was  bread-baking.  One 
of  us  remembered  this,  and  one  that ;  and 
every  one  knew  something  about  it.  Some 
looked  thoughtfully  at  the  ground,  and  then 
getting  a  lucky  inspiration  would  pour  forth 
what  had  come  to  them.  One,  a  native  of 
Holstein,  apparently  had  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  childhood  standing  near  his  mother  in 
front  of  the  oven,  which  was  in  a  corner  of 
the  garden  by  the  wall ;  and  he  even  asserted 
that  his  mother  had  several  times  inadvertently 
set  him  on  the  shovel  and  pushed  him  into  the 
oven.  He  knew,  therefore,  not  only  how  it 
feels  to  be  a  bread-baker,  but  also  to  be  the 
loaf  of  bread.  He  was  a  rogue,  and  we  did  n't 
listen  to  him. 


THE  JOURNEY   INLAND  ON   FOOT      63 

We  were  very  anxious  to  learn.  The  sour 
bread,  especially,  caused  us  much  thought ;  but 
after  long  and  heated  discussion  and  much 
running  to  and  from  other  divisions,  we  made 
bread  of  rum  and  flour.  Some  stood  waiting, 
with  shirtsleeves  rolled  up,  ready  to  knead  it. 
One  advised  that  they  should  wash  their  hands 
first,  and  he  got  a  sharp  hint  that  he  had 
made  a  ridiculous  suggestion.  There  was  no 
water  for  washing  hands.  They  kneaded  the 
dough  industriously  and  laid  it  carefully  in  the 
cooking-pan  over  a  gentle  fire.  It  rose  a  little, 
and  browned  a  little,  but  even  then  it  was 
sticky  and  not  properly  baked. 

Evenings  we  sat  around  the  dying  fire  and 
talked  over  the  position  of  the  enemy  and  the 
progress  of  the  campaign, —  for  wild  and  won- 
derful rumors  were  current  at  times,  —  and  we 
reverted  always  to  the  last  fight.  We  talked  of 
how  we  had  found  not  a  single  dead  enemy 
and  of  the  possibility  that  our  three  killed  had 
been  shot  by  our  own  men,  and  we  shook  our 
heads  and  gazed  into  the  embers;  and  then 
some  one  would  stoop  and  stir  up  the  fire  a 


/ 


64  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

little.  Next  we  got  to  talking  of  Kiel  and  of 
home,  and  each  one  told  something  about  his 
life  or  his  childhood  and  praised  it.  The  Swa- 
bians,  especially,  talked  a  great  deal,  and  talked 
big  about  what  they  had  and  what  they  could 
do.  Then  we  lay  down  just  as  we  were  sitting, 
in  a  circle  about  our  cooking-hole,  and  pulled 
our  blankets  over  us  and  slept. 

On  the  fourth  evening,  when  it  was  already 
dark  and  we  were  sitting  around  the  fires,  we 
saw  flashes  of  light  in  the  east.  Immediately 
afterwards,  it  flashed  in  the  west  also.  We 
became  very  much  excited;  we  thought  the 
enemy  were  giving  signals  about  attacking  us. 
The  light  hovered  a  moment  like  a  white  star 
on  the  horizon  and  then  vanished  and  appeared 
again  immediately.  It  seemed  quite  near. 
The  next  morning  Gehlsen  told  me  that  the 
signals  had  been  from  our  own  men,  who  were 
situated  in  a  fortification  in  the  far  east  in  the 
midst  of  the  enemy.  They  had  signaled  way 
over  us  to  the  west  to  the  capital  and  had 
received  an  answer  from  there. 

Very  early  the  next  morning,  the  fifth,  our 


THE  JOURNEY  INLAND  ON  FOOT   65 

outposts  saw  the  major  advancing.  Many  of 
us  climbed  on  the  wagons  and  watched  the 
long  procession,  which  wound  slowly  up  out  of 
the  ravines  of  the  mountains;  and  we  talked 
as  if  we  were  already  old  Africans,  although 
we  were  merely  four  days  and  three  dead  ahead 
of  them.  And  one  of  us  said  to  another,  "  The 
old  fellow  is  surprised.  Marching  here  is  dif- 
ferent from  in  Kiel."  So  we  stood  and  watched, 
and  were  especially  pleased  when  we  recog- 
nized the  old  officer.  For  the  first  time  we 
were  superior  to  him. 


VI 

BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES? 

We  were  to  surround  the  enemy  in  an  arc 
to  the  north  and  corner  them,  just  as  one  runs 
in  a  circle  and  corners  a  colt  so  that  it  runs 
back  where  the  boy  is  waiting  with  a  halter 
in  his  hand.  We  were  to  make  forced  marches 
with  fewer  and  lighter  wagons,  which  meant 
smaller  and  lighter  rations,  and  with  less  and 
lighter  clothing.  We  were  about  three  hun- 
dred men,  —  marines,  sailors,  and  the  home 
guards,  who  were  leading  us. 

The  troop  of  old  Africans  again  went 
on  ahead,  officers  and  common  soldiers,  all 
mounted.  Then  came  the  old  major  with  one 
officer;  then  we  foot-soldiers  in  a  long,  thin 
line  veiled  in  dust.  Here  and  there  in  our  line 
were  the  thirty  great  Cape  wagons,  loaded  with 
the  light  fieldpieces  and  each  drawn  by  from 
ten  to  twenty-four  long-horned  oxen,  which 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES?  67 

were  driven,  with  much  shouting,  by  negroes. 
On  both  sides  of  the  way  was  more  or  less 
dense,  grayish  green  thorn-bush,  the  wood  of 
which  is  as  hard  as  bone,  and  which  grows  to 
the  height  of  a  man,  and  sometimes  twice  that 
height,  and  has  curved  thorns  as  long  as  one's 
ringer.  In  such  wise  and  through  such  country 
we  now  traveled  day  after  day  and  week  after 
week.  And  day  by  day  and  week  by  week  our 
progress  became  more  painful.  For  soon  came 
the  time  when  we  began  to  suffer  from  hunger 
and  want,  when  the  oxen  began  to  fall  from 
exhaustion,  and  when  some  of  the  clumsily 
rumbling  wagons  were  full  of  the  distress  of 
the  wounded  or  very  sick. 

When  the  sun  mounted  high  over  us,  almost 
to  the  zenith,  and  the  sand  was  scorching,  and 
eyes  and  throats  were  burning,  the  van  would 
halt  at  a  clearing  where  there  ought  to  have 
been  water,  but  the  water  was  not  always 
there.  Then  suffering  terribly  from  thirst,  we 
had  to  dig  holes  to  see  if  we  could  find  a  little 
water  slowly  filtering  through.  Often  it  was 
salt  or  milky  from  lime,  or  smelled  vile ;  and 


68  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

oftener  we  didn't  find  even  this  miserable, 
loathsome  water,  and  we  had  to  go  on  again 
thirsty,  far  into  the  night.  If  we  did  find 
water,  we  would  make  a  barricade  of  thorn- 
bush  around  us.  Then  each  mess  division 
would  get  its  meagre  supply  of  food ;  a  little 
meat  from  a  freshly  killed  ox  which  had  fallen 
exhausted,  a  little  flour,  and  a  little  rice.  The 
meat  or  flour  we  stirred  up  in  a  kettle  with 
the  bad  water,  and  set  it  over  the  fire,  calling 
it  meat  soup,  or  bouillon  with  rice,  or  pan- 
cakes, which  they  called  "  Plinsen."  The  cook- 
ing utensils  were  cleaned  with  sand.  After 
that  we  lay  for  an  hour  in  the  shade  of  the 
wagons  or  of  a  canvas  that  had  been  set  up, 
and  then  started  on  again. 

Weary  and  indifferent,  we  marched  on  till 
evening  and  often  into  the  night,  and  I  don't 
know  that  in  those  weeks  we  ever  sang.  The 
moonlight  lay  wonderfully  pale,  like  bright 
spider  webs,  over  the  broad,  bushy  land,  and 
the  unfamiliar  stars  gleamed  strangely  confused 
and  restless.  The  gun-straps  pressed  on  our 
shoulders,  our  feet  stumbled  in  the  uneven 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES?  69 

track,  and  our  thoughts  were  slow  and  dull. 
When  we  had  reached  water  in  the  night  and 
had  had  dealt  out  to  us  one  or  two,  or,  if  it 
was  more  plenty,  even  three  cook-pan  covers 
full  of  the  miserable  stuff,  we  were  too  tired  to 
cook  properly.  We  stirred  up  together  a  little 
of  whatever  we  got  and  ate  it  half  cooked.  We 
had  orders  to  bring  the  water  to  the  boiling- 
point  before  we  took  it ;  but  I  have  seen  the 
officers,  and  for  that  matter  even  the  physi- 
cians themselves,  drink  it  just  as  it  was.  We 
were  too  tired  and  apathetic. 

So  it  went  on  every  day  for  four  weeks. 
The  country  was  always  flat  and  bushy.  We 
did  n't  see  a  single  house  and  we  did  n't  meet 
a  human  being. 

It  was  bad  that  we  could  n't  take  provisions 
enough  with  us.  If  we  had  been  able  to,  many 
more  would  have  seen  their  homes  again.  We 
did  n't  notice  it  ourselves,  but  the  doctors  and 
officers  probably  saw  that  we  were  gradually 
getting  flabby  and  weak.  If  we  had  even  had 
time  and  inclination  to  cook  properly,  it  would 
have  been  better;  but  the  water  was  often  so 


70  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

repulsive  that  it  was  no  pleasure,  and  we  had  to 
use  it  so  sparingly  that  our  utensils  got  foul. 
I  rubbed  them  with  sand  and  I  rubbed  them 
with  grass,  but  they  did  not  get  clean.  And  it 
was  bad  that  we  had  only  thin  khaki  uniforms. 
In  the  morning  we  marched  up  to  our  knees 
in  wet  grass,  at  noon  in  hot  sand,  and  all  day 
through  thorny  brush,  so  that  the  lower  part 
of  our  trousers  fringed  out  and  soon  hung 
in  shreds.  When,  as  sometimes  happened,  a 
thunder-storm  or  a  shower  came  up  and  then 
night  came  on,  we  were  horribly  cold.  There 
were  some  very  cold  nights. 

Thus  it  had  to  come  about  that  we  soon 
became  very  weak,  even  though  we  did  not 
notice  it  ourselves.  I  used  to  think  sometimes 
with  surprise,  "  There  was  so  much  talk  and 
squabbling  among  us  on  shipboard,  and  so 
many  jokes  among  us !  Where  are  they,  and 
why  don't  we  sing  ?  How  pale  and  yellow  and 
thin  Behrens  has  grown  !  How  sunken  and 
feverish  our  under  officer's  eyes  look !  What 
awfully  thin  beards  we  young  men  have!" 
There  were  many  among  us  not  yet  twenty. 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES?  71 

Once  we  came  upon  a  great  covered  wagon 
left  deserted  on  the  road.  A  farmer  or  a 
trader  had  wanted  to  escape  and  had  packed 
his  most  valuable  possessions  in  the  wagon, 
harnessed  his  oxen  to  it,  and  driven  the  rest 
of  his  flocks  before  it.  He  had  come  as  far  as 
this.  His  bones  lay  eaten  by  beasts,  his  goods 
were  stolen,  and  round  about  the  wagon  were 
strewn  the  only  things  which  the  enemy 
could  n't  use,  his  letters  and  books.  We  buried 
the  bones  in  the  bush,  tied  a  cross  together 
with  string  and  set  it  on  the  grave,  and  took 
some  letters  and  remnants  of  books,  read 
them,  and  threw  them  away. 

Another  day  we  discovered,  hidden  in  the 
bush,  on  a  hill  by  the  way,  many  deserted 
huts  of  the  enemy.  They  were  like  great  bee- 
hives made  of  a  skeleton  of  branches  and  twigs 
plastered  over  with  cow-dung.  Although  we 
were  so  tired,  we  took  the  time  to  set  fire  to 
these,  and  afterwards  stood  on  a  rise  in  our 
road  and  looked  back.  The  glow  dyed  the 
evening  sky  for  a  great  distance. 

Besides  this  I  don't  know  that  anything 


72  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

special  happened  to  us.  We  marched  contin- 
ually along  the  sandy  road  in  a  cloud  of  dust, 
on  both  sides  of  us  brush  that  from  time  to  time 
was  thinner,  or  that  yielded  to  make  a  majestic 
clearing. 

Our  horsemen,  the  old  Africans  and  the 
officers,  rode  often  an  hour  in  advance  of  us 
and  tried  to  spy  out  the  enemy.  When  they 
came  back  the  news  would  often  spread  through 
the  ranks  or  at  night  from  fire  to  fire :  "  We 
are  close  to  the  enemy  now ;  to-morrow  or  the 
day  after  we  shall  meet  them."  Then  we  re- 
joiced and  each  man  sat  and  looked  over  his 
gun  and  examined  his  cartridge-belt.  But  a 
new  day  came  and  still  another,  and  we  grew 
weaker  and  more  exhausted,  and  we  saw 
nothing  of  the  enemy. 

So  it  went  on  for  four  weeks,  further  and 
further.  It  was  bad  that  we  never  had  our 
clothes  off  and  could  never  wash  ourselves, 
and  seldom,  and  then  not  thoroughly,  even 
our  faces  and  hands ;  but  what  was  worse,  we 
could  never  get  enough  to  eat  any  more.  They 
had  given  to  me  the  task  of  getting  the  rations 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES  ?  73 

for  our  mess.  I  brought  less  and  less  to  the 
cooking-hole ;  a  little  rice,  a  little  flour,  a  little 
canned  meat,  and  a  little  coffee.  There  was  no 
more  sugar,  and  one  day  I  came  back  from  the 
wagon  with  no  salt.  Then  I  baked  pancakes 
made  of  dirty  water  and  flour.  The  water  we 
drank  with  our  food  tasted  disgustingly  of 
Glaubersalz ;  often  it  was  as  yellow  as  pea  soup 
and  smelled  vile.  The  nights  were  cold. 

I  cannot  say  that  we  were  cast  down.  We 
did  n't  grumble,  either.  We  perceived  that  it 
could  n't  go  any  other  way  and  that  the  offi- 
cers endured  all  that  we  did.  We  were  very 
quiet  and  sober,  though.  We  held  ourselves 
together  with  the  thought:  "We  shall  soon 
now  come  upon  the  enemy  and  beat  them  and 
finish  up  the  campaign,  and  then,  oh!  then,  we 
shall  go  back  to  the  capital  and  get  new  clothes 
and  have  a  bath.  We  '11  spring  into  the  water, 
and  we'll  get  a  new  handkerchief,  a  really 
clean,  red  checked  one,  and  a  great  lot  of  good 
meat  and  a  handful  of  white  salt,  and  a  great, 
great  mug  of  clean,  crystal-clear  water — how 
it  will  glisten !    And  we  '11  have  a  long,  long 


74  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

drink  and  hold  out  the  empty  mug,  and  again 
the  water  will  pour  into  it,  and  we  '11  drink 
and  drink.  And  then  after  a  few  days  we  '11 
travel  back  to  the  coast  and  we  '11  start  for 
home !  What  shan't  we  have  to  tell  about  this 
monkey-land ! " 

Our  boots  fell  apart;  our  trousers  were 
nothing  but  shreds  and  rags  at  the  bottom ; 
our  jackets  got  full  of  great  holes  from  the 
thorns  and  were  horribly  greasy  because  we 
wiped  everything  off  on  them ;  our  hands  were 
full  of  inflamed  places  because  we  often  had 
to  seize  the  thorns  with  them. 

Our  lieutenant  often  talked  to  us.  "  Keep 
up  your  courage,"  he  would  say ;  "  we  shall 
have  a  fight  and  throw  the  rascals  back  to  the 
west  into  the  jaws  of  the  main  division.  And 
in  July  we  '11  be  at  home  again."  I  marveled 
at  him,  that  he,  though  not  much  older  than 
we,  and  suffering  all  the  hardships  that  we 
did,  was  always  uniformly  calm,  while  we  were 
often  good-for-nothing  and  got  angry  and 
grumbled.  It  was  n't  because  he  had  learned 
more  than  we;  I  think  it  came  from  the  fact 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES?  75 

that  he  was  at  heart  a  cultivated  man ;  that  is, 
he  had  his  soul  and  mind  in  control  so  that  he 
could  value  justly,  and  could  make  allowance 
for  the  things  about  him.  His  will  would  have 
it  so,  and  it  came  to  pass.  And  I  have  noticed 
that  will  power  is  worth  ten  times  more  than 
mere  knowing.  We  never  said  a  word  of  how 
much  we  thought  of  him  and  watched  him. 
He  was  a  small  man  and  rode  a  strong  East 
Prussian  horse,  and  always  wore  his  felt  hat  a 
little  over  the  left  ear  with  the  brim  tilted  up 
on  the  left  side. 

The  old  major  came  sometimes  and  ad- 
dressed us.  While  doing  so  he  looked  at  each 
man  as  closely  as  though  he  wanted  to  find 
out  if  he  were  having  any  sort  of  trouble.  We 
all  felt  that  he  was  a  wise  and  wide-awake  man 
and  that  he  had  a  gentle,  sympathetic  heart. 
We  felt,  therefore,  safe  under  him,  and  we 
knew  it  could  not  be  any  different  from  what 
it  was  or  he  would  have  changed  it ;  and  we 
would  run  like  so  many  rabbits  if  we  could  do 
any  little  service  for  him.  When  any  one  had 
run  that  way,  we  used  to  jeer  at  him  and  say : 


76  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

"Are  you  trying  to  burst  yourself,  man?" 
But  when  the  turn  came  to  any  one  else  he 
would  run  just  the  same. 

Sometimes  when  we  were  all  sitting  about 
our  fire-holes,  I  would  take  myself  off  over  to 
the  old  Africans,  who  always  had  their  fire  by 
one  of  the  wagons  which  Sergeant  Hansen 
conducted.  Then  Hansen  would  motion  to  me, 
for  he  liked  me  since  I  had  talked  to  him  in 
the  courtyard  of  the  fort.  They  always  sat  by 
themselves,  not  entirely  out  of  pride,  but  also 
because  they  were  mostly  from  five  to  twenty 
years  older  than  we  were.  Some  of  them  had 
been  already  ten  years  or  more  in  the  country. 

I  used  to  sit  down  quietly  with  them  and 
listen  with  great  eagerness  to  their  talk.  Some- 
times they  talked  of  the  wild  fifteen  years' 
struggles  in  the  colony,  in  all  or  part  of  which 
they  had  shared,  and  of  the  fighting  in  the 
last  three  months.  They  recalled  the  scene  of 
many  a  brave  deed,  and  named  many  a  valiant 
man,  dead  or  living.  I  was  surprised  that  so 
many  hard  undertakings,  of  which  I  had  never 
heard  or  read  so  much  as  a  word,  had  been 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES  ?  77 

carried  through  by  Germans,  and  that  already 
so  much  German  blood  had  been  lavishly 
spilled  in  this  hot,  barren  land.  They  touched, 
too,  upon  the  causes  of  the  uprising ;  and  one 
of  the  older  men,  who  had  been  long  in  the 
country,  said :  "  Children,  how  should  it  be 
otherwise  ?  They  were  ranchmen  and  proprie- 
tors, and  we  were  there  to  make  them  landless 
workingmen ;  and  they  rose  up  in  revolt.  They 
acted  in  just  the  same  way  that  North  Ger- 
many did  in  1813.  This  is  their  struggle  for 
independence."  "  But  the  cruelty  ?  "  said  some 
one  else,  and  the  first  speaker  replied  indiffer- 
ently :  "  Do  you  suppose  that  if  our  whole  peo- 
ple should  rise  in  revolt  against  foreign  oppres- 
sors it  would  take  place  without  cruelty  ?  And 
are  we  not  cruel  toward  them?"  They  dis- 
cussed, too,  what  the  Germans  really  wanted 
here.  They  thought  we  ought  to  make  that 
point  clear.  "  The  matter  stood  this  way :  there 
were  missionaries  here  who  said :  *  You  are  our 
dear  brothers  in  the  Lord  and  we  want  to 
bring  you  these  benefits  ;  namely,  Faith,  Love, 
and  Hope.'  And  there  were  soldiers,  farmers, 


78  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  traders,  and  they  said :  '  We  want  to  take 
your  cattle  and  your  land  gradually  away  from 
you  and  make  you  slaves  without  legal  rights/ 
Those  two  things  did  n't  go  side  by  side.  It 
is  a  ridiculous  and  crazy  project.  Either  it  is 
right  to  colonize,  that  is,  to  deprive  others  of 
their  rights,  to  rob  and  to  make  slaves,  or  it 
is  just  and  right  to  Christianize,  that  is,  to 
proclaim  and  live  up  to  brotherly  love.  One 
must  clearly  desire  the  one  and  despise  the 
other ;  one  must  wish  to  rule  or  to  love,  to  be 
for  or  against  Jesus.  The  missionaries  used  to 
preach  to  them,  '  Ye  are  our  brothers/  and 
that  turned  their  heads.  They  are  not  our 
brothers,  but  our  slaves,  whom  we  must  treat 
humanely  but  strictly.  These  ought  to  be  our 
brothers  ?  They  may  become  that  after  a  cen- 
tury or  two.  They  must  first  learn  what  we 
ourselves  have  discovered,  —  to  stem  water 
and  to  make  wells,  to  dig  and  to  plant  corn, 
to  build  houses  and  to  weave  clothing.  After 
that  they  may  well  become  our  brothers.  One 
does  n't  take  any  one  into  a  partnership  till 
he  has  paid  up  his  share." 


BROTHERS,  OR  SLAVES  ?  79 

One  old  freight-carrier,  who  mixed  many 
English  and  Dutch  words  in  his  speech,  said 
it  would  be  better  if  the  colony  were  sold  to 
the  English.  "  The  Germans  are  probably  use- 
ful as  soldiers  and  farmers,"  he  said,  "but 
they  understand  nothing  about  the  govern- 
ment of  colonies.  They  want  this  and  they 
want  that."  A  younger  man,  who  had  been  in 
the  country  only  three  years,  said,  in  answer: 
"  There  '11  have  to  be  a  thousand  or  two  Ger- 
man graves  in  this  country  before  that  happens, 
and  perhaps  they  '11  be  dug  this  year." 

Over  these  conversations  it  got  to  be  late  at 
night ;  the  fires  still  glowed  a  little,  and  in  the 
uncertain  light  I  saw  the  faces  that  had  become 
browned  and  weatherbeaten  from  the  burning 
of  the  African  sun. 

In  these  hard,  hot  days  of  marching  and 
cold,  moonlight  nights,  when  we  were  advan- 
cing painfully,  but  still  not  without  courage, 
one  week  after  another,  through  the  wild, 
bushy  land,  —  there  was  not  a  house,  not  a 
ditch,  not  a  tree,  not  a  boundary  in  the  burn- 
ing sun  by  day  or  the  pale  moonlight  of  the 


80  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

clear  nights;  when  I  was  plodding  along, 
hungry  and  dirty  and  weary  by  the  sandy, 
uneven  wagon  track,  my  gun  on  my  shoulder ; 
when  I  lay  in  the  noon  hour  in  the  shadow  of 
the  great  Cape  wagons,  and  in  the  bitter  cold 
nights,  hungry  and  restless,  in  a  thin  blanket 
on  the  bare  earth,  and  the  strange  stars  shone 
in  the  beautiful  blue  heavens,  —  then,  I  be- 
lieve, even  then,  in  those  painful  weeks,  I 
learned  to  love  that  wonderful,  endless  country. 


VII 

PETER  IS   PROMOTED 

Toward  the  end  of  the  fourth  week  some 
horsemen,  who  had  been  sent  on  ahead,  came 
in  with  the  report  that  the  enemy  were  close 
by ;  so  we  made  a  better  camp  than  usual.  We 
set  up  the  old  major's  tent  under  a  big  tree, 
made  a  strong  barricade  of  thornbush  around 
us,  established  outposts,  and  slept  for  the  night. 
Early  the  next  morning,  when  I  was  coming 
from  guard  duty,  I  heard  that  all  our  horse- 
men, not  only  the  old  Africans  but  also  most 
of  the  officers,  were  to  go  out  as  a  scouting 
party  and  ascertain  the  position  of  the  enemy. 
Soon  after  that  I  saw  that  they  were  saddling 
and  harnessing  oxen  to  the  one  two-wheeled 
wagon  and  the  machine-gun.  Then  they  started 
out  of  camp,  in  all  about  forty  mounted  men. 
The  major,  with  his  straight  little  figure  and 
his  searching  glance,  rode  in  the  midst  of  them, 


82  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

as  did  our  lieutenant.  I  was  vexed  that  he  had 
taken  the  corporal  with  him  instead  of  me. 
Still,  I  gazed  after  him  till  the  narrow  sandy 
path  disappeared  in  the  bushes.  He  was  wear- 
ing his  hat  over  his  left  ear. 

After  they  left,  we  began  a  grand  wash,  for 
in  this  place  there  was  quite  a  lot  of  water  in 
deep  holes  which  had  been  dug  in  the  bright 
gray  limy  earth.  We  made  a  broad  ditch  by 
our  fire-hole,  spread  a  water-tight  tent-cloth 
over  it,  poured  water  into  it,  took  off  our  rags 
and  washed  and  scrubbed  them  with  great  zeal. 
Then  we  hung  them  up  on  bushes  to  dry.  In 
this  way  we  spent  the  day  rather  more  cheer- 
fully than  for  a  long  time,  and  we  talked  of 
our  cavalry  and  when  they  would  come  back. 
Toward  evening  I  went  to  our  commissariat 
wagon  and  got  the  share  for  our  mess  and  made 
a  flour  mush ;  and  we  sat  about  our  cooking- 
hole,  as  usual,  and  ate. 

While  we  were  sitting  there  we  suddenly 
saw  that  the  next  mess  division  were  stretching 
their  necks  and  getting  up.  At  the  same  time 
we  heard  shouting  from  the  other  end  of  the 


PETER  IS  PROMOTED  83 

camp.  We  sprang  up  and  saw  galloping  to- 
ward us,  on  the  same  path  which  our  scouting 
party  had  taken  in  the  morning,  a  single  rider. 
He  was  so  exhausted  by  his  exertions  that  he 
swayed  from  side  to  side  with  every  leap  of  his 
horse,  and  the  horse  was  shiny  with  sweat  and 
bespattered  with  foam.  They  helped  him  dis- 
mount, but  he  either  could  not  or  would  not 
speak.  The  captain  came  out  of  his  tent  and 
led  him  away  with  him. 

At  that  moment  two  more  riders,  old  Afri- 
cans, came  in,  one  shortly  behind  the  other. 
One  was  a  native  of  Schleswig,  a  capable,  ear- 
nest man.  They  called  to  the  captain  without 
dismounting  and  said,  in  a  thick  voice  :  "  More 
than  half  are  dead." 

Then  we  all  called  out  together :  "  Who  is 
dead?  What?  Who  is  left?  Where 's  the  old 
man?  Is  Peter  dead?  Is  our  lieutenant  dead? 
Speak,  can't  you?"  But  they  said  nothing. 
Then  the  first  one  came  out  of  the  tent  and 
said :  "  The  cart  will  come  immediately  with 
several  officers  who  have  been  wounded." 

We  got  our  guns  ready,  strengthened  our 


84  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

outposts,  and  sent  out  an  expedition  to  meet 
the  wagon,  and  waited,  brooding  and  talking 
in  low  voices.  We  felt  as  though  we  had  been 
struck  on  the  head. 

Soon  we  heard  from  a  distance  out  of  the 
bush  the  cracking  of  whips ;  then  we  saw  the 
white  canvas  top  of  the  wagon  shimmering 
through  the  bushes.  The  harness  of  the  oxen 
was  in  disorder  and  several  of  them  were 
wounded.  On  the  chest  in  the  middle  of  the 
wagon  sat  the  wounded  officers ;  several  others 
lay  near  them  as  though  dead.  The  old  major, 
however,  stood  upright  in  their  midst.  His  hair 
was  bloody  and  his  face  was  pale.  The  hospital 
aids  came  running  with  woollen  blankets,  cov- 
ered those  who  were  lying  in  the  wagon  and 
carried  them  away.  Blood  trickled  in  great 
drops  from  the  tail-board.  After  considerable 
time,  fifteen  more  men  came  in  one  by  one, 
among  them  Sergeant  Hansen.  That  was  all 
that  came  back. 

I  went  over  to  my  mess  and  sat  there  awhile 
despondently.  The  old  Africans  were  sitting 
not  far  from  us,  but  I  did  not  venture  to  go  to 


PETER  IS  PROMOTED  85 

them,  for  they  had  become  a  small  company. 
At  last,  however,  I  went  and  seated  myself 
silently  a  little  at  one  side. 

"  He  wanted  to  come  back,"  Sergeant  Han- 
sen was  saying,  staring  into  the  fire,  "  but  he 
had  a  bad  shot  in  his  leg,  so  he  had  to  stay 
lying  there."  Another  man  was  mentioned. 
"  He  had  luck,"  said  the  man  from  Schleswig. 
"He  got  a  shot  in  the  breast  and  lay  quite 
still."  I  asked  in  a  low  voice  for  our  lieutenant. 
"  I  don't  know,"  said  one.  The  other  one  said : 
"He  went  into  cover  in  the  bush  and  Karl 
saw  him  fall  there."  One  of  them  told  of  the 
old  major  :  "  As  long  as  I  live,  I  shall  hear  his 
placid  voice  amidst  all  the  distress  and  shots. 
It  is  a  wonder  that  he  escaped  alive."  Another 
said :  "  They  all  did  well.  They  held  their 
ground  lying  or  standing,  and  they  charged 
and  took  their  death  wounds  like  brave  men." 
The  Schleswiger  shook  his  head  and  brought 
his  hand  down  heavily  on  his  knee.  "  To 
think  that  that  could  have  happened  to  us ! " 
he  said.  They  mentioned  two  more  good  names 
of  old  Africans  who  had  led  and  fallen. 


86  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

I  spoke  up  now  in  a  loud  voice :  "  There  is 
a  remarkably  large  number  of  dead  and  few 
wounded  "  ;  but  Hansen  said :  "  Don't  be  so 
stupid.  They  don't  make  prisoners.  We  don't, 
either."  Then  they  said  again  that  we  should 
most  likely  have  a  battle  now,  and,  if  we  did, 
it  would  be  a  very  severe  one. 

While  I  was  still  sitting  with  them  and  lis- 
tening, balls  of  red  and  white  fire  were  shot  as 
signals  out  of  great  pistols,  from  the  middle  of 
our  camp  up  straight  into  the  evening  sky. 
Many  of  us  stood  up  on  the  wagons  and  on 
branches  of  trees  and  watched  out  over  the 
vast,  dark,  silent  bush  to  see  if  an  answer  came 
from  the  main  division.  But  no  answer  came. 

When  quiet  was  commanded  in  camp,  I  went 
back  to  my  division.  Our  corporal  had  not 
come  back.  The  next  day  I  was  promoted  to 
be  corporal.  The  buttons  which  Gehlsen  gave 
me  I  sewed  on  with  white  thread.  There  was 
no  black  to  be  had. 

We  remained  several  days  more  in  this  place. 
Several  scouting  parties  went  and  came  every 
day ;  but  none  of  them  saw  anything  of  the 


PETER  IS  PROMOTED  87 

enemy.  And  still  no  messenger  or  signals  came 
from  the  main  division.  We  talked  a  great  deal 
about  our  situation,  and  thought  the  enemy, 
forced  to  the  east  by  the  main  army,  would 
some  day  come  upon  us  with  their  thousands, 
and  would  run  over  us  in  order  to  break  through 
into  the  wilderness.  That  might  well  be  a  hard 
position  for  us. 

After  a  few  days  the  water  got  scarce  and 
bad;  so  we  broke  camp  one  afternoon  and 
marched  with  great  caution,  for  it  was  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  enemy,  who  on  account  of  their 
numerous  herds  of  cattle  needed  a  great  deal 
of  water  and  had  possession  of  the  next  water- 
holes,  said  to  be  very  plenteous  ones,  would 
defend  them  zealously.  Some  sections  had  to 
make  sallies  on  both  sides,  slinking  crouched 
down  among  the  bushes,  with  their  guns  ready 
in  their  hands.  I  was  ordered  to  this  work. 

As  our  main  body  advanced  swiftly  on  the 
unimpeded  way,  we  who  had  to  be  always  ahead 
of  them  at  one  side  were  obliged  to  run,  slink, 
duck,  leap,  and  keep  continually  on  the  alert. 
This  went  on  for  seven  hours.  When  I  was 


88  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

relieved,  I  was  dead  tired.  The  soles  of  my 
boots,  -which  had  been  torn  for  two  weeks 
already,  were  loose  and  my  feet  were  sore.  Be- 
fore we  went  on  again,  I  tied  up  my  soles  with 
thongs  of  fresh  ox-skin  and  pulled  great  thorns 
out  of  my  hands  and  arms. 

We  marched  well  into  the  night,  which  was 
particularly  dark.  In  the  middle  of  the  night 
the  command  came  suddenly  from  the  head  of 
the  column  to  halt  and  push  up  together.  The 
wagons  came  up  together  in  haste,  and  we  knelt 
in  a  square  around  them,  facing  out  with  our 
guns  ready.  We  thought  the  attack  was  com- 
ing now.  We  were  all  eager  for  it.  But  it 
did  n't  come  and  soon  the  command  was  given : 
"Stack  arms,  and  take  blankets."  We  sta- 
tioned guards  and  camped  there  for  the  night. 

Early  the  next  day  we  went  on  unhindered 
and  reached  the  water  place  about  noon.  It 
was  a  rather  large  field,  white  from  the  limy 
soil.  In  several  deep  holes  there  was  quite  a 
good  deal  of  good  water.  There  we  camped. 

Next  morning  our  company  set  out  to  find 
the  place  where  the  big  scouting  party  had 


PETER  IS  PROMOTED  89 

fought  and  been  half  annihilated.  After  a  long, 
difficult  march  through  thick  bush  and  past 
several  shallow  ponds  containing  good  water, 
we  saw,  toward  noon,  numberless  eagles  and 
vultures  perching  on  trees,  or  hovering  in  the 
air  over  the  brush-field.  We  went  toward  them 
and  came  to  a  cleared  space,  which  at  one  end 
ran  up  a  little  slope  where  the  brush  was  grow- 
ing again  and  where,  already  partially  con- 
cealed by  the  new  growth,  stood  some  huts 
of  the  enemy.  On  this  slope,  in  the  long,  dry 
grass  in  front  of  the  huts,  lay  the  naked,  muti- 
lated, half-devoured  bodies  of  many  of  our  men. 
Some  of  us  were  silent;  some  gnashed  their 
teeth,  doubled  up  their  fists,  and  cursed ;  others 
mocked  and  said  :  "  How  long  will  it  be  before 
we  are  lying  that  way  ?  Then  we  shall  have 
no  more  suffering." 

We  placed  men  on  guard  in  the  bush  about 
us  and  began  to  search  for  the  other  dead, 
especially  those  who  had  made  an  attack  into 
the  bush  and  had  fallen  there,  and  we  found 
them  all.  Then  some  dug  graves,  others  wove 
wreaths  of  the  dry  grass,  others  made  crosses 


90  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

of  pieces  of  wood,  and  still  others  cut  the 
thorn  bushes,  which  were  hard  as  horn,  with 
knives  or  side-arms.  Then  we  laid  the  dead  in 
their  graves,  shoveled  the  earth  over  them, 
laid  the  thorny  branches  we  had  cut  as  a  bar- 
rier over  the  place  so  that  the  wild  animals 
and  men  would  leave  them  in  peace,  and  re- 
turned again  to  the  camp. 


VIII 

A  MEMOKABLE  EASTER 

This  evening  or  the  next  morning  a  recon- 
noitring party  came  back  with  the  news  that 
it  looked  as  if  the  enemy  intended  to  break 
through  toward  the  east  at  the  south  of  us. 
As  this  movement  would  threaten  our  pro- 
vision line,  and  as,  moreover,  no  news  had  yet 
come  from  the  main  division,  and  without  it 
our  small  number  could  hardly  withstand  the 
onslaught  of  thousands,  the  major  decided  to 
go  back  about  three  days'  march  to  our  old 
water  place  and  to  lie  in  wait  in  a  fortified 
camp  until  news  should  come. 

So  we  started  on  the  return  journey.  We 
were  all  depressed ;  many  were  weary  and  dull. 
When  we  came,  after  some  hours'  marching, 
to  a  beautiful  great  forest  with  trees  which 
looked  like  German  oaks,  we  were  strongly 
reminded  of  our  native  land,  and  we  became 
a  little  brighter  and  more  lively  while  passing 


92  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

through  it.  We  crossed  the  dry,  sandy  bed  of 
a  river,  which  lay  a  yard  deeper  than  its  banks, 
and  then  on  again  through  quite  narrow  bush 
paths. 

While  we  were  encamped  that  night,  we  at 
last  saw  signals  to  the  southwest  of  us.  They 
flashed  out  five  or  six  times  in  red  or  white 
rockets  and  aroused  and  excited  us.  We 
thought  they  were  signals  from  the  main  divi- 
sion, and  that  now  we  should  start  out  and 
charge  the  enemy.  Weeks  afterward  we  learned 
that  it  was  the  enemy,  who,  finding  some  rock- 
ets near  our  dead,  had  shot  them  off  for  sport. 
We  were  quieter  than  usual  this  evening.  It 
was  the  night  before  Easter. 

This  evening  Behrens  bequeathed  to  me,  in 
case  he  fell,  his  pistols,  which  he  had  brought 
with  him  from  Kiel ;  and  I  bequeathed  him 
my  watch  and  chain,  which  I  had  earned  by 
voluntarily  helping  in  the  workshop  when  I 
was  a  fourteen-year-old  boy.  Otto  Hargens,  a 
one-year  volunteer  from  Ditmarsh,  a  bright 
young  fellow  who  was  promoted  to  be  under 
officer  that  evening,  was  witness. 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  93 

The  next  morning,  while  it  was  still  dark, 
we  made  a  fine  Easter  fire  of  dried  thorn-bush 
in  the  middle  of  the  camp,  and  all  stood  about 
it  and  gazed  into  it  and  were  glad  that  we  were 
still  alive,  although  our  life  was  so  dirty  and 
friendless  and  painful;  and  we  thought  of 
home,  picturing  how  the  mother  was  giving 
out  the  Sunday  clothes,  and  how  clean  the 
living-room  was,  and  how  festive  the  morning 
coffee,  and  how  the  church-bells  were  ringing 
out  over  the  houses. 

Just  at  this  hour,  in  the  gray  of  the  morn- 
ing, a  great  company  of  the  enemy  was  really 
moving  to  the  east,  not  in  order  to  break 
through  into  the  wilderness,  but  in  order  to 
lie  in  wait  for  us  in  an  especially  bushy  part 
of  the  road  we  should  pass  that  day. 

About  six  o'clock,  when  the  Easter  sun  had 
risen  bright  and  clear,  we  broke  camp.  We 
proceeded  in  the  following  order:  first,  the 
little  group  of  cavalry  which  still  remained  to 
us,  on  their  emaciated,  wounded,  and  rough- 
coated  horses ;  then  a  company  marching ;  then 
our  cannon ;  then  our  fifty  wagons,  each  with 


94  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

a  team  of  twenty-four  oxen ;  and  then  my  com- 
pany. I  went  in  the  first  platoon.  Behind  this, 
as  the  rear  of  the  whole  column,  at  a  distance 
of  about  three  hundred  yards,  marched  a  half- 
platoon.  The  whole  column  was  about  two 
miles  and  a  half  long.  On  the  narrow,  dusty 
road,  which  wound  in  many  curves  through 
the  thick  bush,  only  a  small  part  of  it  could 
be  seen  at  a  time.  But  one  heard  from  the 
cracking  of  whips  and  the  shouting  of  the 
negro  drivers,  "  Work,  Work,  Osse ! "  how  the 
procession  was  going  forward. 

I  was  passing,  in  my  thoughts  of  home, 
through  our  whole  house.  I  went  to  the  door 
and  looked  down  the  street  where  the  people 
were  going  to  church,  and  I  turned  back  into 
the  kitchen  where  mother  was  inspecting  my 
little  sisters  to  see  if  they  were  properly  dressed 
for  going  to  church.  How  peaceful  and  clean 
and  lovely  it  all  was  there !  And  I  was  really 
here  and  tired,  hungry,  clad  in  dirty  rags, 
marching  through  a  foreign  land,  far,  far  away 
from  my  home,  in  the  midst  of  a  wild,  heathen 
enemy.  So  I  mused,  and  I  believe  I  heard  the 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  95 

Easter  bells  as  they  pealed  slowly  and  waver- 
ingly  out  over  the  city. 

Then  two  bullets  fell  not  far  behind  me.  I 
woke  up,  and  I  thought  at  first  that  an  officer 
had  gone  into  the  bush  and  fired  at  some  game. 

We  went  on,  but  the  next  moment  —  while 
now  shot  followed  upon  shot  behind  us,  and  we 
turned  around  with  our  guns  ready  to  fire  — 
a  man  came  by  breathless,  running  to  the  front 
and  calling :  "  The  rear  is  under  fire !  "  The  of- 
ficers immediately  ordered  us  to  press  forward 
into  the  bushes.  I  was  already  running  with 
Behrens  and  Gehlsen  into  the  bush  and  then  to- 
ward the  shots  in  the  direction  from  which  we 
had  come.  I  had  pressed  forward  a  little  way 
when  I  saw  two  clouds  of  smoke  rising  among 
bushes  in  front  of  me.  I  hastily  raised  my  gun 
to  my  cheek  and  fired  standing.  At  that  same 
moment  I  saw  something  at  my  side  fall  heav- 
ily, as  a  log  falls.  When  I  had  fired,  I  saw 
that  Behrens  was  lying  there  in  convulsions. 
I  sprang  diagonally  forward  behind  the  next 
bush,  with  others  following,  dropped  on  one 
knee,  and  delivered  a  furious,  rapid  fire  in  the 


96  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

direction  of  the  smoke  at  some  dark  thing 
which  was  moving  behind  the  bush.  I  don't 
know  how  many  times  I  fired.  Then  my  other 
comrade,  who  was  kneeling  beside  me,  fell,  and 
in  falling  dropped  his  gun.  He  groaned  aloud. 
I  threw  myself  down  and  fired  quickly  in  order, 
as  had  been  previously  arranged,  to  call  the 
attention  of  other  comrades  to  where  I  lay 
hard  pressed.  They  sprang  up,  threw  them- 
selves down  at  intervals  and  shot  as  I  was  do- 
ing at  an  enemy  of  whom  we  saw  nothing  but 
little  clouds  of  smoke  here  and  there  among 
the  bushes.  We  were  lying  like  logs.  Close  by 
me  was  an  under  officer  whose  left  arm  was 
bleeding  badly.  He  had  propped  his  gun  on  a 
dry  branch  and  was  firing  at  short  regular  in- 
tervals. Bullets  were  coming  from  in  front  and 
both  sides.  Now  I  saw  something  strange  com- 
ing at  us.  In  a  mass  it  lay  and  kneeled  and 
slipped  through  the  bushes.  I  saw  no  single  in- 
dividual, only  a  group.  It  came  quite  near,  and 
the  balls  splintered  the  bush  around  me.  I 
shouted  as  loud  as  I  could :  "  Here,  this  way ! " 
I  almost  think  that  we  could  have  held  our  own 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  97 

in  that  place  till  reinforcements  had  arrived, 
but  just  then  came  the  command  from  the  cap- 
tain, "  Keep  low  and  fall  back  ! "  I  sprang  up 
with  four  companions  and  ran  back  one  or  two 
bushes  and  flung  myself  down  again.  Three 
of  us  reached  there ;  one,  who  was  hit  as  he  was 
leaping,  stumbled  and  fell.  He  tried  to  creep 
after  us,  moaning  piteously.  I  lay  and  shot 
over  him  and  moved  a  little  to  one  side  because 
he  was  raising  his  arms  in  agony.  Again  we 
sprang  up,  and  while  on  the  run,  the  man  next 
me  clutched  at  his  breast,  let  his  gun  fall,  leaned 
sideways  against  a  bush,  and  while  still  stand- 
ing said,  with  a  look  at  me :  "  Give  my  brother 
the  book."  Then  he  fell  heavily  and  did  not 
stir  again.  I  could  not  search  for  the  book,  for 
at  that  moment  as  I  turned  to  shoot,  I  saw  here 
and  there  in  the  gray-green  bushes,  strange 
men  in  cord  uniform  rising  like  snakes  out  of 
the  grass.  Glancing  around  me,  I  saw  that  I 
was  alone.  Then  I  sprang  up  and  in  three  or 
four  leaps  joined  some  other  soldiers,  who  were 
now  going  forward  stooping,  and  turned  and 
knelt  among  them  to  shoot.  I  saw  not  far  from 


98  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

me  a  black,  half -naked  figure  like  an  ape,  hold- 
ing his  gun  in  his  mouth,  and  climbing  with 
hands  and  feet  into  a  tree.  I  aimed  at  him  and 
screamed  aloud  for  joy  when  he  fell  down  the 
trunk. 

When  I  wanted  to  fire  again  and  was  bend- 
ing my  forefinger,  my  hand  suddenly  became 
powerless.  I  got  very  angry  and  looked  at  it 
in  a  rage.  Then  I  saw  blood  running  out  of 
my  ragged  sleeve  and  I  felt  that  my  arm  from 
the  elbow  down  was  wet.  I  heard  a  dull,  wild 
screaming  and  calling  of  the  enemy  in  a  half- 
circle  around  me.  There  was  no  one  near  me 
any  more.  I  recalled  then  the  words  which  my 
father  had  so  often  said  to  me,  "  When  you 
stick  your  nose  into  anything,  you  forget 
everything  else."  I  crept  hastily  back  for  a 
little  distance  on  all  fours,  and  then  springing 
up,  ran  on  in  a  crouching  position.  There  was 
still  one  man  running  near  me,  all  hanging 
over  to  one  side,  with  his  body  bleeding.  I 
seized  him  under  the  arm  as  we  ran,  but  he 
fell  groaning  on  one  knee  and  bent  together 
as  he  knelt.  I  took  his  gun  so  that  it  might 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  99 

not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  My  own 
I  had  thrown  over  my  shoulder.  I  ran  on  in 
this  way  and  came,  with  my  comrades,  who 
were  pressing  forward,  into  a  clearing. 

There  I  saw  the  old  major  standing  straight 
and  placid  in  the  middle  of  the  place,  with 
some  officers  and  men  about  him.  Sections 
kept  breaking  through  from  the  other  side  of 
the  road  and  dispersed  themselves  at  a  motion 
of  his  hand  round  about  him  in  the  clearing, 
and  throwing  themselves  upon  the  ground  fired 
at  the  enemy.  Behind  the  men  who  had  come 
up  running  came  the  cannon  in  all  haste ;  in 
obedience  to  his  motion  they  were  turned 
about  just  in  front  of  him  and  were  fired  over 
the  companies  lying  in  front,  into  the  enemy. 
Near  a  revolving  cannon  both  my  guns  fell 
from  my  grasp,  my  knees  lost  their  strength, 
and  I  collapsed.  I  looked  in  despair  at  my 
bloody  arm.  While  I  was  cowering  there,  I 
reached  for  the  roll  of  bandage  that  I  had  in 
my  coat  and  I  managed  to  get  it ;  but  when  I 
wanted  to  tie  it  around  my  arm,  the  blood 
would  not  stop  and  a  sailor  helped  me.  Some 


100  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

wounded  men  were  already  lying  and  kneel- 
ing there,  and  others  with  faces  drawn  with 
pain  came  creeping  up  and  lay  down  behind 
the  cannon,  which  were  firing  steadily. 

Soon  after,  when  the  ammunition  wagons 
and  ambulances  came  galloping  up,  I  stood  up 
and  tried  to  pull  along  a  chest  of  ammunition 
which  had  been  knocked  open  with  axes.  I 
could  help  only  for  a  while,  I  don't  know  how 
long,  for  suddenly  my  knees,  which  I  had 
held  firm  by  main  force,  gave  way  under  me. 
I  slunk  back  again  to  the  other  wounded  men 
and  sat  with  them,  stemming  with  my  left 
hand  the  blood  which  was  pouring  from  my 
wounded  arm.  Sometimes  I  would  look  up ; 
and  when  I  did,  I  always  saw  the  old  major 
searching  the  whole  clearing  with  his  eyes. 

The  other  men  stood  or  lay  in  a  half -circle 
around  the  wounded  and  the  sick — who  had 
been  removed  from  the  wagons  and  were  lying 
indifferent  with  flushed  faces  under  their 
blankets — and  fired  furiously  at  the  enemy, 
who  were  pressing  up  close.  They  came  so 
near  that  I  saw  them.  Most  of  them  wore  the 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  101 

uniform  of  our  home  guards ;  but  some  had 
European  summer  suits  on  and  some  were 
half  naked.  Their  limbs  seemed  remarkably 
long,  their  motions  remarkably  smooth  and 
tortuous.  They  slipped  and  glided  and  leaped 
through  the  bush  toward  us.  Two  or  three 
times  the  artillery  fired  with  shrapnel.  It 
roared  through  the  air  like  a  cataract ;  then 
it  rattled  and  crackled,  and  the  enemy  gave 
way.  In  this  way  our  men,  lying  and  standing 
about  us,  held  out  for  two  hours  against  a 
wild  onslaught,  but  were  unable  to  advance  a 
step. 

Finally,  however,  they  began  to  press  for- 
ward in  the  bush,  forced  back  the  enemy, 
and  pushed  their  way  to  the  place  where  we, 
the  rear  company,  had  fought,  hoping  prob- 
ably to  find  some  who  still  lived;  but  they 
were  all  dead  and  stripped.  They  brought  in 
the  bodies  and  laid  them  in  a  semicircle  under 
a  tree.  I,  with  some  others,  started  toward 
them  ;  I  wanted  to  see  my  two  dearest  com- 
rades oiice  more,  but  we  were  hurried  back 
that  we  might  not  see  the  pitiable  sight.  Some 


102  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

comrades  were  already  digging  a  grave;  others 
were  barricading  the  camp,  for  we  were  to 
spend  the  night  here. 

Toward  evening,  as  the  sun  was  setting,  the 
dead  were  laid  in  the  ground;  twenty  men 
fired  over  their  open  grave;  the  old  major 
talked  of  the  Fatherland  and  God,  and  of 
death  and  the  Easter  faith.  I  sat  sore  and  half 
beside  myself,  leaning  against  the  side  of  a 
wagon  by  the  wounded,  some  of  whom  were 
talking  softly,  others  sighing  painfully,  others 
sleeping  from  exhaustion  or  lying  in  a  stupor, 
and  one  or  two  already  gasping  in  death. 
Gehlsen,  who  also  had  a  flesh  wound  in  his 
arm,  sat  near  me,  and  they  brought  us  some 
rice  and  a  cook-pan  cover  full  of  water,  about 
a  pint.  I  would  gladly  have  drunk  three  quarts, 
but  far  or  near  there  was  no  water.  I  felt  very 
forlorn  and  suffered  torturing  homesickness. 

It  was  lucky  for  me  that  Hansen  and  Wil- 
kins  came  and,  taking  hold  of  me  under  the 
arms,  carried  me  over  to  their  companions,  the 
old  Africans,  and  gave  me  secretly  more  water 
and  a  piece  of  dry  pancake  and  a  blanket. 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  103 

They  were  always  somewhat  better  provided 
than  we  were.  I  sat  there  and  heard  with 
dulled  senses  what  they  were  saying.  They 
said  that  the  fight  had  been  a  slight  victory, 
for  the  enemy  had  fled  ;  but  it  was  a  success 
too  dearly  bought.  They  said,  also,  that  they 
had  not  given  the  enemy  credit  for  such  great 
bravery,  and  thought  it  probable  that  they 
would  attack  us  again  in  the  morning.  I  also 
heard  them  talk  of  our  sick  men  ;  they  said 
that  with  such  miserable  fare  and  foul  water 
many  more  would  be  sick.  I  wondered  in  my 
half -sleep  why  they  made  so  much  account  of 
the  sick  ones  and  did  not  talk  much  more 
of  the  two  and  thirty  who  lay  in  the  ground 
under  the  big  tree,  and  of  their  parents  and 
brothers  and  sisters.  I  had  grown  more  and 
more  weary,  and  had  wrapped  myself  in  my 
blanket  and  had  laid  my  burning  arm  on  my 
hip,  and  heard  only  now  and  then  a  word,  till 
all  around  me  seemed  quiet.  Then  there  began 
again  to  be  a  movement  in  the  bushes.  In  my 
troubled  sleep  I  heard  shots  again  and  saw 
black  men  round  about  me,  climbing  trees, 


104  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

their  guns  in  their  mouths.  The  old  Africans 
stood  on  all  sides  of  me  and  hit  with  every 
shot ;  but  there  were  too  many  of  the  enemy 
and  one  came  and  seized  me  by  the  arm  and 
wanted  to  take  away  my  protecting  blanket. 
Then  I  groaned,  and  half  awake,  half  asleep, 
heard  Henry  Hansen  say :  "  Let  him  lie  there. 
I  don't  need  a  blanket.  I  have  the  hide  of  an 
elephant." 

The  next  morning  we  had  a  little  rice  and 
water.  Then  the  sick  and  wounded,  two  of 
whom  were  unconscious,  were  lifted  into  wag- 
ons. I  seated  myself  on  the  chest  in  the  front 
of  the  wagon,  my  arm,  which  stung  and  burned, 
in  a  sling.  Behind  me,  in  the  long  covered 
wagon,  in  two  rows,  lay  four  wounded  and  two 
sick  men.  The  negro  by  the  oxen  raised  his 
long  thin  arms  for  the  first  swing  of  the  whip 
and  shouted  to  the  beasts.  Then  the  wagon 
wheel  struck  against  the  first  stone  which  lay 
in  the  rut  and  fell  down  off  it,  jolting  heav- 
ily, and  behind  me  I  heard  painful  groans.  I 
was  supporting  my  well  arm  on  my  knee.  We 
went  on  in  a  long,  long  train,  wagon  after 


A  MEMORABLE  EASTER  105 

wagon,  with  cannon,  and  comrades  marching1, 
scattered  in  between.  As  we  passed  the  great 
grave  under  the  tree,  every  one  cast  once  more 
a  long  look  upon  it.  Those  that  forgot  it  at 
first  turned  and  looked  back.  I  thought  as  I 
passed :  "  If  God  brings  me  back  to  my  home, 
and  gives  me  health  and  a  long  life,  I  will 
stand  before  that  grave  once  more  and  think 
whether  I  am  worthy  in  my  own  eyes  to  have 
come  alive  out  of  that  den  of  fire."  Then  the 
dead  lay  alone. 

One  fellow,  the  one  who  had  a  shot  in  the 
body,  was  being  tortured  slowly  to  death  by 
his  wound.  In  the  morning  he  still  spoke  short 
words  in  a  low  voice ;  at  noon  he  took  a  little 
of  the  dirty  water ;  soon  after  you  could  hear 
the  heavy  rattling  in  his  throat,  and  later  he 
became  unconscious.  Toward  evening  he  lay 
with  open  mouth  and  set  eyes,  but  I  noticed 
from  the  rising  and  sinking  of  his  dirty  woollen 
blanket  that  he  still  lived.  One  of  our  one-year 
volunteers,  a  surgeon,  came  at  every  stop  and 
looked  into  the  wagon,  and  I  saw  quick  sym- 
pathy in  his  eyes.  He  was  not  much  older  than 


106  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

I,  but  he  had  grown  a  long,  heavy  beard  in 
the  bush. 

When  at  nightfall  I  waked  from  a  half- 
sleep,  a  man  from  the  first  platoon,  a  Rhine- 
lander,  was  sitting  near  me  on  the  chest.  He 
complained  of  weakness  in  his  feet  and  knees, 
and  felt  first  hot  and  then  cold.  He  looked  at 
me  out  of  deep,  dry  eyes  in  a  strangely  con- 
fused way,  and  great  drops  of  sweat  came  out 
on  his  forehead.  The  surgeon  came,  felt  his 
pulse,  looked  suspiciously  at  him,  saying  to 
himself,  "  That  is  the  twelfth  in  seven  days," 
and  went  away  again. 

At  evening  we  reached  our  old  camp,  where 
we  were  to  remain  on  our  guard  against  the 
enemy  and  wait  for  news. 


IX 

DESTITUTION  AND   MISERY 

That  night  I  couldn't  sleep  on  account  of 
fever.  I  lay  with  open  eyes  near  the  hospital 
and  watched  them  caring  for  the  sick  and 
wounded.  They  took  a  tent  canvas,  folded  it 
once,  stuffed  long,  dry  grass  into  the  sack  thus 
formed,  laid  the  sufferers  upon  it,  and  did  all 
they  could  for  their  comfort.  Toward  morning 
a  new  patient  came  in;  he  walked  with  drag- 
ging feet  and  half-closed  eyes,  pale  as  death. 
In  the  forenoon  two  more  came.  There  were 
already  about  seventeen  wounded  and  fourteen 
sick  lying  there.  The  sick  ones  lay  as  apathetic 
as  if  they  had  been  stunned  by  a  blow  on  the 
head.  If  any  one  questioned  them,  they  said 
they  felt  no  pain,  but  were  exhausted  and  hot. 
In  the  next  three  days  twelve  more  were  sick. 
So  it  went  from  day  to  day.  It  began  to  be 
said  openly  that  it  was  typhoid  fever  due  to 


108  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

the  insufficient,  poor  food  and  foul  water,  and 
to  the  filth  and  chilling  in  the  thin,  ragged 
clothing. 

When  in  the  morning  we  had  brewed  our 
coffee  at  as  big  a  fire  as  we  could  make  so  as 
to  warm  ourselves  after  the  cold  night,  our 
comrades  would  come  up  and  practice  grips  as 
if  they  were  in  the  barrack-yard  at  Kiel.  Then 
they  swarmed  in  squads  into  the  bush,  crept 
and  slunk  and  ducked,  threw  themselves  and 
lay  ready  for  an  attack,  aimed  against  the  sun 
and  with  the  sun,  and  sprang  up  and  stormed 
with  "  Hurrah !  "  But  the  old  Africans  jeered 
and  said  they  were  n't  shouting  "  Hurrah !  " 
but  "Hunger."  At  twelve  the  voice  of  the 
sergeant  sounded  from  the  wagons,  "  Get  ra- 
tions." The  men  to  whom  that  duty  was 
intrusted  ran  up  and  came  back  under  the 
canvas  with  a  little  flour  and  rice  and  salt 
and  unroasted  coffee.  Then  in  every  mess  there 
began  fire-making  and  stirring  and  talking 
and  advice  and  spooning  and  eating.  I  could 
n't  do  anything  more  than  carry  a  little  water. 
At  three,  drill  began  again.   The  men  sat  in 


DESTITUTION   AND   MISERY  109 

the  rifle-pits  in  squads  under  corporals  and 
cleaned  their  arms.  I  sat  with  them.  Conver- 
sation was  slow  and  dragging.  A  melancholy 
song  was  started :  "  Zu  Strassburg  auf  der 
Schanz',"  or  "  Steh'  ich  in  finstrer  Mitter- 
nacht."  But  it  sounded  dull  and  soon  died 
out.  It  got  dark  very  quickly  evenings.  We 
used  to  sit  in  the  lee  of  a  tent  canvas  and  talk 
of  all  sorts  of  things  and  sing  songs.  From  the 
tent  of  the  old  major  we  would  catch  the  sound 
of  a  laugh  or  an  invective.  Out  of  the  dark 
opening  of  the  long  hospital  tent  flashed  the 
wandering  light  of  the  orderly  as  he  went  from 
one  to  another.  Here  and  there  a  light  would 
glimmer  in  a  fire-hole.  Under  the  trees  the 
negroes  used  to  sit  and  sing  in  unison  a  choral 
taught  them  by  the  missionaries.  Then  an 
officer  off  duty  would  come  by  from  the  non- 
commissioned officers'  posts  which  surrounded 
the  camp,  and  calling  shortly  to  the  negroes  to 
hold  their  tongues,  "  Will  jelle  slap,"  would 
go  into  his  tent. 

So  passed  one  day  like  another.  Wonderful 
rumors  flew  continually  through  the  camp :  a 


110  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

thousand  cavalry  were  on  the  way  from  Ger- 
many to  help  us ;  the  governor  had  beaten  the 
negroes  in  a  battle  lasting  two  days ;  there  were 
numberless  negroes  killed  and  their  bodies  had 
been  burned  on  pyres.  Probably  the  conversa- 
tion turned  no  less  than  fifty  times  upon  the 
subject  of  our  dismissal  and  return  home.  That 
was  our  favorite  theme  !  Home  !  What  happy 
faces  they  would  wear  there  !  What  should  n't 
we  have  to  tell  ?  When  the  little  reconnoitring 
party  of  five  or  six  men  on  thin,  worn-out 
horses  came  back  it  was  soon  known  at  every 
cooking-hole  what  they  had  reported,  and  we 
founded  great  assertions  on  the  news.  Each 
one  was  a  staff-officer  and  wiser  than  all  the 
rest.  And  then  when  we  have  beaten  the  enemy 
one  way  or  another  we  '11  go  home  !  That  was 
always  the  conclusion.  Oh,  to  go  home !  We 
all,  every  one  of  us,  wanted  to  go  home. 

The  oppressive  heat  of  the  days  and  the 
piercing  cold  of  the  nights,  the  wretched  fare 
and  the  miserable  water,  were  making  more 
and  more  of  the  men  weak,  sluggish,  and 
indifferent.    We  all  spoke  another  language, 


DESTITUTION  AND  MISERY  111 

without  life  and  without  emphasis,  just  as 
though  we  were  drunk  with  sleep.  Some  few 
kept  cheerful.  Henry  Gehlsen  used  often  to 
come  and  cheer  me  up.  In  spite  of  his 
wounded  arm  he  was  always  active  and  inter- 
ested in  everything  new  that  he  saw:  in  a  bird 
in  the  air,  in  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  in  the  speech 
of  the  black  drivers,  and  in  the  fever  of  the 
sick  ones.  Henry  Hansen,  the  old  guardsman, 
used  to  nod  surreptitiously  to  me,  and  in  the 
shelter  of  the  commissariat  wagon  would  slip 
a  morsel  of  cold  pancake  into  my  hand.  My 
arm,  which  had  been  shot  through,  was  fever- 
ish and  painful,  and  besides  that  I  had  a  hor- 
rid oppressed  feeling  in  my  body,  and  I  was 
so  exhausted  that  sometimes  in  broad  daylight, 
as  I  sat  at  the  fire-hole  and  watched  the  life 
about  me,  my  eyes  would  shut,  my  chin  would 
drop  on  my  breast,  and  I  would  slowly  fall 
over  to  one  side  and  sleep. 

Singing  in  camp  was  now  becoming  more 
and  more  infrequent  and  conversation  more 
and  more  forced.  We  were  getting  continually 
dirtier,  hungrier,  and  sicker.   Apathetic  and 


112  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

silent,  we  saw  every  night  one  or  two  of  our 
number  laid  in  the  strange,  gray  earth,  clad 
in  their  torn,  dirty  rags  and  wrapped  in  their 
gray  woollen  blankets.  Heavily  and  wearily 
those  who  were  commanded  to  shoot  in  honor 
of  the  dead  raised  their  arms;  wearily  and 
with  dulled  senses  they  shoveled  the  earth 
over  their  comrades  and  laid  thorn  branches 
above  them.  In  the  night  I  used  to  be  wak- 
ened by  the  tired,  delirious  talking  of  the 
sick  ones,  and  by  the  howling  of  the  jackals 
which  scented  the  graves. 

After  we  had  been  for  two  weeks  in  this 
camp,  matters  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that 
every  fourth  man  was  sick.  They  lay  in  full 
uniform  in  two  long  rows  on  the  ground,  with 
tent  canvas  stretched  over  them  as  protection 
from  the  burning  sun.  They  had  to  lie  there, 
seriously  sick,  not  only  without  any  sort  of 
medicine,  but  also  without  proper  nourish- 
ment. We  had  neither  milk  nor  eggs.  We 
had  n't  even  a  piece  of  dry  bread.  We  had  n't 
even  a  bit  of  cleanliness. 

The  old  major  conducted  himself  as  though 


DESTITUTION  AND   MISERY  113 

he  had  good  courage  still,  and  did  everything 
he  could  think  of  for  us.  The  last  joy  on  earth 
to  many  a  one  was  a  kind,  cheerful  word 
spoken  by  him.  I  used  often  to  see  him  com- 
ing out  of  the  hospital  tent  and  often  was 
gladdened  by  his  kindly  consolation.  But 
when  more  and  more  of  us  fell  ill,  and  more 
and  more  went  indifferently  about  their  work, 
and  still  no  news  or  provisions  or  hospital  sup- 
plies came,  even  he  had  to  give  up  hope.  He 
probably  thought  of  going  on  again,  but  he 
realized  that  his  little  troop  would  no  longer 
present  the  appearance  of  an  army,  but  rather 
that  of  a  transport  of  sick  soldiers.  Then  he 
sent  messengers  to  the  main  division  to  report 
that  he  was  powerless  and  must  desist  from 
harassing  the  enemy,  and  that  he  could  not 
any  longer  see  this  dying  off  of  the  young 
men,  and  that  he  wanted  to  seek  a  place  with 
a  better  water-supply. 


HOMESICKNESS  AND  FEVER 

Then  they  packed  those  who  were  severely 
wounded  and  the  sick  on  the  wagons,  while  I 
crouched  inactive,  with  dull,  confused  head, 
and  inflamed  and  burning  arm,  by  the  wheel 
of  the  ammunition  wagon. 

The  well  men  marched  beside  and  behind 
the  wagon.  A  few  sat  on  worn,  rough  horses. 
So  we  started  on  a  depressing  journey.  I  sat 
in  the  provision  wagon  conducted  by  Hansen. 
We  used  to  sit  side  by  side  for  hours  while  he 
smoked  his  short  pipe  and  spoke  an  occasional 
word. 

Once  a  man  in  delirium  sprang  right  out  of 
the  wagon  into  the  bush  and  was  never  seen 
again.  Then  guards  had  to  be  stationed  about 
the  wagons  so  that  no  one  could  escape.  One 
of  those  who  had  the  fever  attacked  a  doctor 
with  his  side-arms,  and  another  who  was  still 


HOMESICKNESS  AND   FEVER         115 

in  the  ranks  shot  wildly  around  him.  Three  of 
the  sick  died  on  the  way  and  were  buried  in 
the  bush.  The  one-year  volunteer  was  surgeon, 
nurse,  and  soldier,  all  in  one.  His  face  was 
growing  narrower  and  paler,  but  his  beard  was 
getting  longer  and  thicker. 

On  the  third  night  several  oxen  collapsed 
and  one  died.  We  stopped  our  wagon  to  help 
them.  I  don't  know  how  it  happened  that  the 
rest  of  the  force  went  on.  They  probably 
thought  that  the  place  for  bivouac  was  close 
by  and  that  we  would  follow  immediately. 
But  we  were  delayed  an  hour.  Then  we  con- 
tinued on  the  narrow  road  in  the  bush,  in  the 
dark  night,  —  ten  sick  men  with  three  men  to 
protect  them  and  the  drivers  saying  they  had 
seen  the  enemy  in  the  bush.  I  climbed  pain- 
fully into  the  wagon  and  told  the  two  wounded 
men,  who  were  partly  in  possession  of  their 
senses  and  had  some  strength,  how  things 
stood  with  us.  They  half  sat  up  and  took 
their  guns  and  held  watch  with  us  till  we 
could  go  on. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  our  retreat  we  reached 


116  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

a  good  water-supply.  There  was  there  a  small, 
very  simple  church  which  the  mission  had 
built,  and  the  partially  destroyed  house  of  the 
missionary.  In  this  building  beds  made  of  grass 
and  blankets  were  prepared  on  the  ground. 
The  well  men  encamped  some  hundred  yards 
above  on  a  hill.  There  we  were  to  remain 
until  the  disease  had  run  itself  out  among  us. 
At  that  time  we  heard  that  the  campaign  had 
come  to  a  standstill  for  the  present,  because 
the  insurrection  had  assumed  too  great  pro- 
portions for  the  small  German  force  which 
was  at  the  time  available  in  the  colony. 

When  we  had  been  encamped  there  for 
about  ten  days,  provisions  finally  arrived,  and 
mattresses  and  also  strengthening  food  for 
the  sick ;  such  things  as  wine,  bouillon,  white 
of  egg,  cocoa,  and  Quaker  oats,  so  that  at  last 
they  had  beds  and  enough  to  eat.  We,  too, 
were  well  fed,  but  we  still  had  to  go  on  wear- 
ing our  horribly  dirty  clothing. 

We  lived  in  the  greatest  despondency,  all 
sick,  and  some  dying  every  day.  I  made  my- 
self useful  as  far  as  I  could.    Languid  and 


HOMESICKNESS  AND  FEVER  117 

with  dull  head  I  went  about  among  the  sick ; 
with  my  sound  left  hand  gave  water  to  one 
and  a  piece  of  zwieback  to  another,  and  helped 
a  third  to  sit  up  a  little  to  attend  to  the  needs 
of  nature. 

In  these  miserable,  gloomy  weeks  two  com- 
rades came  especially  near  to  me.  Formerly, 
when  we  were  well,  we  had  hardly  known  one 
another.  One  was  a  Thuringian  boy,  with 
childlike,  brown  eyes,  who  said  little.  Even 
on  the  ship  it  had  struck  me  that  he  was  very 
silent  and  looked  surprised  at  everything. 
Afterwards,  when  we  had  landed  and  pushed 
our  way  into  the  bush,  his  eyes  became  more 
and  more  timid,  and  his  mouth  more  and 
more  mutely  closed.  For  the  rest  he  had  a 
strong  body  and  bore  everything  well  and 
without  complaining,  and  he  stood  his  ground 
in  a  fight.  Now  he  was  sick  in  bed.  With  his 
gun  and  his  blanket  he  had  come  down  to  us 
from  the  camp,  shivering  and  with  dull  eyes, 
and  he  said,  with  a  shy  attempt  at  a  jest,  as 
he  lay  down  :  "  Now  I  shall  be  a  gentleman 
of  leisure  with  you  the  rest  of  my  days."   I 


118  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

now  talked  often  with  him,  more  by  signs 
and  suggestion  than  by  means  of  words,  for 
our  throats  were  dried-out  tubes  and  our 
thoughts  had  dragging  feet.  Then  I  under- 
stood that  to  him  everything  which  we  had 
experienced  since  leaving  Kiel  had  been  un- 
canny and  horrible,  —  the  everlasting  expanse 
of  the  open  sea,  the  forbidding,  defiant  coast 
of  England,  the  sublime  Peak  of  Teneriffe, 
the  unfamiliar  constellations,  the  scorching 
sun,  the  bare  shore  of  Swakopmund,  the  sight 
of  our  dead,  the  dying  of  comrades.  For  all 
these  great  and  hard  things  his  soul  was  not 
tough  enough.  He  died  of  dysentery  and 
heart  weakness  on  the  seventh  day. 

The  other  was  already  very  sick  when  we 
moved  into  this  camp.  He  was  born  in  Nurem- 
berg and  had  spent  his  childhood  there.  When 
he  was  fifteen  years  old  he  had  left  his  home 
because  of  a  stepfather,  and  since  that  time 
had  wandered  restlessly  over  the  world.  He 
had  traveled  out  to  South  America  from  Bre- 
men as  a  steward,  had  gone  straight  through 
to  Chile,  had  seen  Samoa,  and  had  been  a  waiter 


HOMESICKNESS  AND  FEVER         119 

in  San  Francisco.  There  he  had  enlisted  in  the 
United  States  Navy,  but  not  for  long.  A  few 
hundred  marks  in  his  pocket  had  enabled  him 
to  travel  from  New  Orleans  to  Australia  to  dig 
gold,  but  he  found  little  or  none.  When  Aus- 
tralia was  enlisting  volunteers  to  fight  against 
the  Boers,  he  had  come  over  as  a  trimmer,  but 
to  help  the  Boers.  He  was  captured  and  had 
survived  some  bad  days  on  the  Island  of  Cey- 
lon. From  there  he  had  returned  to  Cape  Town, 
and,  at  the  first  news  of  revolt  in  our  colony, 
had  volunteered.  I  believe  there  are  not  many 
Germans  who  wander  so  restlessly  and  madly 
and  with  such  foolish  good-nature  through  the 
world.  The  whole  life  of  such  is  passed  run- 
ning indiscriminately,  at  the  first  impulse  of 
a  restless,  unstable  mind,  into  the  right  or 
wrong  path,  and  after  that  course  is  run,  plung- 
ing without  reflection  or  regret  at  the  next 
object  which  comes  just  then  into  their  field 
of  vision.  He  railed  against  the  English,  the 
Americans,  and  most  of  all  against  the  Boers, 
but  I  was  convinced  that  he  would  have  run 
to  the  Japanese  or  the  French  if  there  had 


120  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

been  any  trouble  in  those  quarters.  It  is  bad 
when  a  human  being  has  no  control  over  his 
life.  He  was  lying  now  very  sick  with  typhoid 
fever,  indulging  in  all  sorts  of  fancies,  although 
he  had  so  confidently  believed  and  boasted  that 
he  was  too  well  hardened  to  be  sick.  When 
he  was  slowly  recovering  he  became  perfectly 
reasonable  and  narrated  to  me  his  whole  life. 
For  an  entire  week,  however,  he  clung  to  the 
delusion  that  both  his  legs  had  been  shot  off. 
Many  an  hour  I  sat  by  him,  and  I  learned  a 
great  deal  from  his  conversation.  What  be- 
came of  him  afterwards  I  do  not  know. 

I  was  still  strong  enough  to  keep  about  on 
my  feet,  but  once  when  I  went  out  of  camp, 
as  I  was  obliged  to  do  many  times  a  day,  I 
found  that  I  had  symptoms  of  dysentery.  Then 
I  went  back  to  the  others,  all  my  courage  gone, 
and  I  sat  and  brooded  and  firmly  believed  that 
I  should  have  to  die  here ;  and  I  reconciled 
myself  to  this  fate  with  mournful  reflections 
and  thought  sadly  of  my  parents.  I  said  no- 
thing to  the  surgeon,  but  there  was  a  hospital 
attendant  there  whom  I  asked  about  it  and  he 


HOMESICKNESS  AND  FEVER         121 

said :  "  You  have  typhoid  in  one  part  of  your 
body  and  dysentery  in  another,  but  you  have 
a  lucky  nature  and  you  '11  pull  through."  And 
he  gave  me  some  pills.  I  took  the  pills  exactly 
as  he  directed;  but  I  didn't  believe  the  rest 
of  his  preaching,  for  he  was  half  out  of  his 
mind.  There  were  many  in  this  campaign,  offi- 
cers, surgeons,  hospital  attendants,  and  soldiers, 
who  were  still  doing  their  duty  faithfully,  just 
as  an  engine  continues  to  run  for  a  little  while 
after  the  steam  is  shut  off ;  but  inwardly  they 
were  already  sick  and  full  of  confused  visions. 
One  evening — I  had  already  been  for  weeks 
in  the  typhoid  hospital  —  some  one  had  re- 
ceived a  letter,  I  think  from  Swakopmund.  In 
it  among  other  things  it  was  said  that  every- 
body in  Germany  was  talking  about  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war,  but  nobody  mentioned  us ;  in- 
deed, people  made  sport  of  us  and  our  distress 
as  they  do  of  men  who  are  contending  for  a 
ridiculous  and  lost  cause,  and  they  did  n't  want 
to  hear  anything  about  us  because  they  said 
we  did  n't  understand  how  to  make  a  quick 
conquest.  I  wanted  at  first  to  throw  away  the 


122  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

letter,  but  then  I  thought  I  would  show  it  to 
Henry  Hansen.  He  did  n't  come,  however,  but 
the  next  day  another  old  guardsman  came  and 
I  showed  him  the  letter,  for  all  my  courage 
had  deserted  me.  He  read  it  and  laughed,  say- 
ing: "What  surprises  you  in  that?  Hasn't 
it  always  been  so?  How  many  wives  has  the 
King  of  Siam?  What  kind  of  garters  does  the 
Queen  of  Spain  wear?  What  answer  did  you 
get  to  the  post-card  you  sent  the  Japanese 
general?  See!  That's  the  sort  of  thing  that 
interests  the  German.  You  just  ought  to  hear 
how  the  English  on  every  street-corner  laugh 
at  us  Johnnies  and  boasters.  The  Englishman 
asks  at  every  turn  of  affairs :  '  What  use  will 
this  be  to  me  and  to  England?'"  And  with 
that  he  went  off. 

I  went  back  to  my  sick  comrades,  fetched 
my  blanket,  and  seated  myself  on  the  ground 
at  one  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  hospital 
tent.  It  was  a  cold,  disagreeable  evening.  In 
the  thicket  dry  branches  were  snapping ; 
vultures  were  flying  toward  the  high  trees 
which  rose  thick  and  dark  above  the  bush. 


HOMESICKNESS  AND  FEVER         123 

From  behind  me  came  intermittently  the  loud 
wailing  of  a  very  sick  soldier.  A  fellow  who 
was  slightly  sick  sat  crouched  down  in  front 
of  the  provision  tent  on  a  chest  that  had  been 
half  smashed  in  and  sang  in  a  melancholy, 
weary  voice,  our  old  song :  — 

Doch  mein  Schicksal  will  es  nimmer, 
Durch  die  Welt  ich  wandern  muss. 
Trautes  Heim,  dein  denk'  ich  immer, 
Trautes  Heim,  dir  gilt  mein  Grass. 
Sei  gegriisst  in  weiter  Ferae, 
Teure  Heimat,  sei  gegriisst. 

Two  comrades,  wrapped  in  their  cloaks,  their 
spades  on  their  shoulders,  went  across  to  the 
hill,  to  dig  a  new  grave. 


XI 

CIVILIZATION  AND  A  BATH 

In  the  fourth  week  of  my  stay  in  the  typhoid 
camp  I  heard  that  fresh  troops  had  come  from 
Germany  and  that  still  more  would  come,  all 
Huzzars,  four  thousand  in  all,  and  that  now 
the  campaign  was  to  go  forward  with  more 
vigor.  But  to  me  that  was  all  indifferent  news, 
and  I  thought :  "If  you  were  only  out  of  this 
monkey-land ! " 

But  in  the  fifth  week  the  force  of  my  dis- 
ease was  spent.  As  health  and  strength  slowly 
returned,  I  thought  that  it  was  n't  good  to  go 
home  after  such  experiences  as  I  had  had. 
I  wanted  to  be  on  hand  for  the  second  and 
better  part  of  the  campaign,  for  the  "  quick 
conquest." 

It  happened  that  a  first  lieutenant  with  a 
little  scouting  party  of  three  men  came  to  us 
from  the  east.  On  the  way  he  had  lost  one 


CIVILIZATION  AND  A  BATH  125 

man,  and  he  had  to  leave  another  as  a  typhoid 
patient.  One  day  I  stopped  him  and  begged 
him  to  take  me  with  him.  He  asked  me  if  I 
could  ride.  I  said,  "  Yes/'  although  I  had  not 
sat  on  a  horse  since  the  days  of  my  childhood, 
and  even  then  never  on  a  saddle.  He  looked  at 
me  distrustfully  and  said :  "  You  '11  fall  off 
your  horse  on  the  way."  "  At  your  service, 
sir,"  I  said,  "  I  am  as  strong  as  a  tree  " ;  and 
I  looked  at  him.  He  was  thin  as  a  rail,  and 
his  eyes  glittered  under  his  forehead.  "  I  have 
led  a  dog's  life  for  four  months,"  said  he. 
"At  your  service,  sir,"  I  said,  "so  have  I, 
and  for  that  reason  I  want  to  get  away  from 
here."  Then  he  got  my  dismissal  from  the 
captain. 

Before  morning  dawned  I  went  to  the 
horses,  which  were  already  standing  tied  to 
our  wagons,  and  said  to  the  under  officer,  who 
was  one  of  the  party  and  was  standing  near 
the  horses,  that  I  had  never  yet  ridden  on  a 
saddle.  He  abused  me  roundly  at  first  and 
asked  me  if  I  knew  even  which  end  of  a  horse 
was  the  front  and  which  the  back.  I  thought 


126  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

to  myself,  "  Don't  make  him  quite  wild," 
and  I  seized  the  saddle,  went  up  to  the  animal, 
and  recalling  to  mind  how  I  had  in  my  life 
seen  a  horse  saddled,  put  it  on  not  so  far 
wrong.  Then  he  began  again  to  berate  me 
violently  and  to  show  me  how  to  do  it  right. 
Then  I  practiced  mounting  and  dismounting 
and  thought :  "  That  will  do,  all  right."  The 
next  day  I  learned  from  the  other  man  that 
the  under  officer  had  only  a  little  while  before 
mounted  a  horse  for  the  first  time  in  his  life, 
and  had  made  a  great  deal  more  fuss  about  it 
than  I.  Then  I  wondered  at  the  extraordinary 
boarders  on  God's  earth.  Indeed,  I  have  often 
been  amazed  at  them. 

So  on  that  morning,  after  I  had  been  four 
months  in  the  bush  and  wilderness,  I  rode  with 
the  scouting  party  to  the  west,  to  Windhuk. 
My  companions  had  been  out  here  just  as  long 
as  I.  I  was  very  much  in  fear  of  the  first  trot, 
but  it  went  tolerably  well.  With  light  heart  but 
sore  body  I  rode  along,  energetically  nodding 
my  head  all  the  time.  The  next  day  it  went 
much  better.  The  lieutenant,  a  tall  Rhinelan- 


CIVILIZATION  AND  A   BATH         127 

der,  was  a  pleasant  man  ;  he  often  talked  with 
me  and  seemed  pleased  with  me. 

After  we  had  ridden  for  two  days  through 
a  barren,  deserted  region,  we  began  to  ap- 
proach the  city.  When  we  saw  from  afar  the 
first  telegraph  pole,  we  called  one  another's 
attention  to  it,  and  we  surveyed  the  long,  thin 
thing  with  joyous  eyes.  As  we  rode  by  the 
first  house  that  was  n't  roofless  and  had  n't 
burned-out  window-holes,  we  admired  it  very 
much,  and  when  we  noticed  that  proper  fur- 
niture, a  table  and  chairs,  were  standing  on  the 
open  veranda,  we  stared  in  astonishment  and 
turned  in  our  saddles  to  look  till  we  had  passed. 
With  wide-open  eyes  we  gazed  into  the  garden, 
which  in  former  years  the  colonist  had  laid  out 
with  great  care.  There  were  really  the  palms 
and  .arbors  of  which  we  had  dreamed  and 
talked  in  Kiel  and  on  the  water,  and  there  was 
a  pond !  Oh,  if  only  we  could  ride  into  it ! 
And  there  in  the  shade  of  the  veranda  stood  a 
German  woman,  and  she  held  a  little  child  on 
her  arm.  How  we  looked!  How  we  rejoiced 
over  the  light  clean  dress  she  wore,  and  her 


128  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

friendly  face,  and  the  little  white  child !  We 
gazed  as  though  at  a  miracle  from  heaven  at 
a  sight  any  one  could  see  every  day  in  Ger- 
many,—  just  like  the  three  holy  kings  who 
came  out  of  the  desert  and  looked  from  their 
horses  upon  Mary  and  her  child.  She  looked 
at  us,  ragged,  dirty,  hungry  fellows,  and  bowed 
in  a  friendly  way,  with  big  sympathetic  eyes, 
when  we  all,  as  though  at  a  command,  raised 
our  hands  to  our  caps. 

Weary,  but  with  spirit,  our  horses  mounted 
the  sandy  road  to  the  fort.  In  the  yard,  where 
there  were  some  soldiers  and  some  Hottentot 
women,  we  dismounted  and  looked  after  our 
horses.  The  lieutenant  went  to  the  commandant 
to  make  his  report. 

But  I,  when  we  had  cared  for  our  beasts, 
walked  across  the  yard,  stretching  my  arms  out 
on  both  sides  —  so  disgusting  did  I  seem  to 
myself  —  and  went  into  a  room  and  had  given 
out  to  me  a  whole,  new  cord  uniform,  with 
riding  boots.  I  pushed  back  my  ragged  left 
sleeve  and  laid  the  clothes  over  my  arm  and 
went  in  a  hurry  straight  over  to  the  bathhouse, 


CIVILIZATION  AND  A  BATH  129 

where  I  tore  off  my  rags,  plunged  into  the 
water,  and  washed  and  soaped  and  scrubbed 
till  my  whole  body  was  red. 

When  I  came  out  into  the  yard  again  in  my 
fine  new  home-guard  uniform,  the  lieutenant 
was  talking  with  a  citizen  and  did  not  recog- 
nize me.  Then  he  laughed  and  said  something 
to  the  man  about  me,  at  which  the  latter  turned 
and  said :  "  I  am  the  husband  of  the  woman 
who  was  standing  with  her  child  on  the  ve- 
randa when  you  rode  by.  She  would  like  to 
thank  you  for  your  friendly  greeting.  Will 
you  be  our  guest  this  evening?"  I  was  so 
pleased  that  I  blushed. 

So  that  evening,  after  I  had  had  another  bath 
and  had  scrubbed  myself  again,  I  went  out  to 
the  neighborhood  of  the  house  and  waited  till 
the  lieutenant  had  gone  in  and  then  went  in 
just  behind  him.  When  I  entered  the  living- 
room  the  man  shook  hands  with  me,  and  his 
wife  talked  kindly  to  me  and  showed  me  the 
child ;  and  then  I  sat  down  with  them  at  the 
table  and  stared  dumbly  at  the  white  table- 
cloth and  the  plates  and  the  bread  and  milk 


130  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  sugar;  and  I  listened  to  the  woman's  lovely 
voice.  In  that  hour  I  could  have  been  over- 
happy  if  I  had  been  able  to  keep  from  think- 
ing of  my  sick  and  dead  comrades. 

When  I  took  my  leave  after  supper  and 
went  up  to  the  fort,  I  saw  some  soldiers  laugh- 
ing with  Hottentot  women,  and  one  fellow 
said  to  me  as  he  passed  that  these  women 
were  at  our  disposal  at  any  time.  That  made 
me  angry,  and  I  went  up  to  the  long  veranda 
that  lies  to  the  west.  I  stood  there  a  long 
time  and  looked  over  to  the  mountains,  gilded 
by  the  sinking  sun ;  and  I  thought  of  home 
with  violent  longing. 

I  lived  for  three  weeks  at  the  fort,  and  from 
the  better  food  that  I  received  there,  and 
from  the  cleanliness  which  I  enjoyed,  I  re- 
gained strength  more  and  more.  I  wrote  three 
whole  days  on  a  detailed  letter  home,  and  I 
often  went  to  the  house  of  the  merchant  to 
play  with  the  baby  and  to  talk  with  its  parents. 

As  the  campaign  at  this  time  had  come 
entirely  to  a  standstill,  the  enemy  were  very 
bold.  Their  mounted  parties  came  down  from 


CIVILIZATION  AND  A  BATH         131 

the  north  and  harassed  and  surprised  our 
commissariat  trains,  our  scouting  parties,  and 
our  cattle  guards.  They  even  dared  to  come 
close  to  the  capital,  and  drove  off  our  cattle 
and  shot  several  of  our  men.  I  often  sat  on 
horseback  with  others  to  watch  for  them,  but 
we  seldom  got  a  shot  at  them. 

I  had  a  great  deal  of  conversation  with  fel- 
low-soldiers who  were  in  this  command,  or 
who,  like  myself,  were  at  Windhuk  on  account 
of  illness,  or  who  came  and  went ;  and  with 
the  Boers  whom  the  government  had  taken 
on  as  freight-carriers,  and  with  farmers  who 
had  fled  here  from  the  bush. 

Among1  all  these  various  men  who  had 
gathered  here  from  all  quarters,  and  were 
always  coming  and  going,  the  wildest 
rumors  were  rife.  For  though  in  war  times 
especially  distorted  reports  are  always  coming 
to  light  anew  and  are  believed  and  spread 
abroad  by  excited  minds,  South  Africa  in 
particular,  from  Congo  to  the  Cape,  on  ac- 
count of  its  incipient  and  rapidly  and  rest- 
lessly developing  political  life,  and  on  account 


132  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

of  the  immense  distances,  and  the  numberless 
idle  hours  which  trekking  with  oxen  causes, 
was  spun  over  with  a  monstrous  gossip.  One 
may  say  that  South  Africa  is  like  a  great 
building  in  process  of  construction,  in  all  the 
rooms  of  which  mechanics  are  pounding  and 
hammering.  The  noise  resounds  loud  and 
clear  through  all  the  great,  empty  rooms. 

But  often  after  such  talks  I  used  to  go  out 
alone  on  the  veranda  and  look  off  into  the 
broad  country  to  the  west  and  see  the  sun 
set.  And  as  it  sank,  I  saw  light,  white  clouds 
descend  out  of  the  sky  and  spread  out  like  a 
garment.  And  I  watched  the  garment  sink 
slowly  down  before  the  sun  to  the  earth,  and 
I  saw  how  the  departing  sun  painted  it  all 
the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  Blended  in  delicate 
stripes,  they  glided  down  to  the  earth.  At 
the  side  to  the  south  shone  a  mighty  moun- 
tain range  of  naked  stone,  which  reflected  the 
light  like  metal ;  but  in  the  parts  where  the 
failing  light  no  longer  reached  it,  it  menaced 
hard  and  gloomy.  I  stood  watching  it  with 
ever   new  wonder  until  the  whole  beautiful 


CIVILIZATION  AND  A  BATH  133 

picture  faded  and  night  and  the  stars  came 
quickly  on.  And  the  stars  were  beautiful,  too  ! 
How  wonderfully  hot  they  glowed  in  the  deep 
black  sky !  But  I  only  thought,  at  the  sight 
of  all  this  splendor  of  the  day  and  night :  "  Oh, 
Africa,  if  I  were  only  at  home !  " 


XII 

ANOTHER  EXPEDITION 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  week  I  felt 
that  I  had  entirely  regained  my  health,  and 
the  lazy  life  here  was  becoming  loathsome  to 
me.  Just  in  this  week  the  lieutenant  was  pre- 
paring himself  to  go  north  to  the  front ;  so  I 
told  him  what  I  had  at  heart,  that  I  would 
gladly  go  on  and  make  the  new  campaign  with 
him.  He  started  up  as  he  usually  did,  and 
grumbled :  "  What !  you  want  to  go  with  me  ? 
Where  are  the  others,  then?"  I  replied:  "One 
third  are  dead ;  another  third  are  sick  and 
wounded ;  the  rest  are  scattered  here  and  there 
in  military  posts."  He  regarded  me  thought- 
fully and  said :  "  You  poor  rascals !  You  were 
so  smart  and  saucy  when  you  arrived  and  you 
have  experienced  nothing  but  suffering  and 
death.  Have  n't  you  had  enough  of  it  ?  Well, 
I  '11  take  you  down  with  me."  I  was  very  glad 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  135 

and  bought  for  myself  all  sorts  of  trifles,  and 
on  the  third  day  we  set  out. 

After  a  day's  journey  toward  the  coast  we 
reached  a  great  station  where  all  the  necessaries 
which  had  come  from  the  coast  for  the  new 
campaign  were  stored :  horses  from  Argentine ; 
oxen  and  wagons  from  Cape  Town ;  horses, 
ammunition,  clothing,  preserves,  and  hospital 
supplies  from  Germany.  When  I  had  passed 
through  this  place  five  months  before,  it  had 
consisted  of  five  or  six  houses  of  corrugated 
iron ;  now  it  was  an  army  encampment.  In  the 
station  building,  where  the  general  and  his 
staff  were,  officers,  orderlies,  and  dispatch  mes- 
sengers, most  of  whom,  not  having  been  in 
the  bush,  were  pretty  clean,  were  running  in 
and  out.  A  crowd  of  young  officers  and  pri- 
vates were  breaking  a  lot  of  horses  and  mules, 
only  just  come  from  Argentine,  to  harness  or 
saddle.  I  have  never  in  my  life  heard  a  man 
storm  and  swear  as  did  one  lieutenant  who, 
with  twenty  men  all  in  shirtsleeves,  with  long 
ropes  in  their  hands,  was  working  among  a  lot 
of  mules  which  were  almost  as  excited  as  the 


136  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

men  themselves.  Batteries  were  standing  in 
the  ranks  being  cleaned,  tried,  and  harnes&ed 
up.  In  front  of  some  long  tents,  in  which  enor- 
mous quantities  of  food  stores  were  piled, 
were  great  covered  wagons,  getting  their  loads. 
Black  drivers  were  coming  from  the  distant 
meadow,  screaming  loudly  at  the  oxen  which 
they  harnessed,  twelve  pair  to  each  wagon. 
The  Boer,  proprietor  of  wagon,  oxen,  and  driv- 
ers, seated  himself  on  the  brilliantly  painted 
chest  which  stood  in  the  front  of  the  wagon, 
or  himself  took  the  long  whip.  Then  the  escort 
came  up.  With  loud  geeing  and  hawing  the 
procession  started  northward  out  of  the  camp, 
in  a  cloud  of  dust.  From  the  wheelwright  and 
blacksmith  shop  were  heard  pounding  and 
ringing  of  metal  until  late  in  the  night.  From 
the  canteens  came  loud  laughter  and  talk. 

From  the  front,  on  the  north,  open  columns 
were  coming  in  daily,  most  of  them  bringing 
along  sick  men.  As  I  came  up  to  one  wagon 
which  had  just  arrived,  the  surgeon  had  already 
climbed  in  and  was  talking  to  a  sick  fellow  : 
"  Well,  my  boy,  how  goes  it  ?   Oh,  answer ! 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  137 

You  can  just  tell  me  how  you  are,  can't  you?" 
Then  he  turned  to  the  man  lying  next  and 
said :  "  Why  does  n't  he  say  anything  ?  "  The 
man  spoken  to  gathered  himself  together  out 
of  his  confusion  and  said  in  Low  German : 
"  He 's  dead."  The  surgeon  turned  to  the 
guards  and  said  :  "  Why  did  n't  you  bury  him 
on  the  way?  "  They  replied  :  "  We  did  n't  want 
to  leave  him  there  alone ;  we  had  n't  time  to 
bury  him  properly,  and  the  jackals  would  have 
du£  him  out  again."  Beside  the  dead  on  the 
hard  boards  of  the  wagon  lay  the  living,  most 
of  them  unconscious  or  out  of  their  heads, 
wearing  their  uniforms  and  boots,  with  their 
guns  and  soft  hats  beside  them,  their  lips  and 
tongues  parched,  and  their  eye-sockets  deep 
and  blue.  In  this  condition  they  had  been  on 
the  road  for  a  week. 

The  hospital  was  a  long  barrack  of  corru- 
gated iron.  I  heard  that  an  acquaintance  from 
Itzehoe  was  lying  there,  and  I  went  in  to  visit 
him.  Row  upon  row  of  typhoid  patients  lay 
close  together,  each  one  with  a  mosquito  net 
stretched  around  him,  like  a  baby  in  its  carriage. 


138  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

Some  lay  silent,  with  pale,  sunken  eyes ;  others 
cheered  on  the  horses  in  loud  tones,  or  saw 
fire-light,  or  shouted  commands,  each  in  the 
dialect  of  his  province,  Low- German,  Saxon, 
or  Bavarian ;  others  were  convalescent  and  lay 
there  pale,  following  me  with  their  eyes.  One 
nodded  to  me.  The  man  from  Itzehoe  was 
unconscious.  When  I  was  again  outside,  I  drew 
a  deep  breath ;  and  I  was  depressed  for  a  long 
time.  There  was  a  flag  on  the  hospital  which 
the  officer  on  guard  used  to  raise  every  morn- 
ing, but  it  was  no  use ;  every  forenoon  an  or- 
derly would  make  a  short  report  to  him  and 
the  flag  would  be  hauled  down. 

On  the  fourth  day  we  set  out  with  a  com- 
missariat train  of  six  Cape  wagons,  with  Boers, 
drivers,  and  oxen,  which  was  conducted  by  the 
first  lieutenant.  Ten  men,  all  mounted,  escorted 
the  train  as  guard.  I  was  responsible  for  three 
wagons,  and  rode  a  dark  brown  Argentine 
horse,  which,  though  thin,  was  in  good  con- 
dition. 

Just  as  we,  amid  cracking  of  whips  and 
great  hallooing  on  the  part  of  the  drivers,  were 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  139 

riding  northward  out  of  the  camp  between  the 
heavily  rocking  wagons,  a  scouting  party  of 
the  enemy  succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the 
broad,  dry  grass  field  on  the  mountain  which 
rose  to  the  east  of  the  station,  in  order  to  de- 
prive us  of  the  good  pasturage.  The  whole  ex- 
tent of  the  mountain  flamed  with  red  tongues 
of  fire.  In  a  fury  it  flung  itself  like  a  red  net 
over  the  field  of  bush ;  with  broad  front  it 
crawled  more  slowly  down  into  the  plain.  The 
entire  camp  stood  and  looked  at  the  pageant 
and  railed  at  the  injury  which  the  enemy  had 
done  us. 

Even  the  first  day's  march  was  very  tax- 
ing. Now  it  led  through  bottomless  sand,  now 
over  rough,  stony  ground.  Many  dead  cattle, 
already  skeletons  or  half  devoured  or  in  the 
early  stages  of  decay,  lay  stinking  right  by  the 
narrow  track.  Vultures  circled  over  us  and 
jackals  howled  in  the  bush.  We  rested  toward 
night  in  a  little  church  which  was  full  of  sick 
men.  In  the  missionary's  house  everything 
was  smashed  to  bits,  but  over  the  door  of  the 
living-room  there  still  hung  a  piece  of  paste- 


140  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

board,  on  which  were  the  words,  "  Love  your 
enemies."  In  the  little  churchyard  not  far 
from  the  church  lay  a  long  row  of  our  men 
buried  here  in  the  last  few  months.  On  a  cap- 
tain's grave  there  was  a  palm  leaf  certainly 
three  yards  long. 

The  higher  we  ascended  the  more  frequently 
lay  the  dead  animals  by  the  road,  and  the 
worse  was  the  pasturage.  Wherever  possible 
the  enemy  had  cut  the  grass  or  burned  it,  and 
the  rest  our  troops  had  used.  Again,  as  before, 
we  saw  on  the  march  not  a  house  or  permanent 
inhabitant ;  the  only  things  we  met  were  open 
columns  returning  to  the  camp,  and  once  a 
single  horseman.  I  happened  to  be  the  advance 
rider  and  hailed  him  familiarly,  thinking  he 
was  a  comrade  or  at  the  highest  a  non-com- 
missioned officer.  When  he  came  nearer  I  saw, 
however,  from  his  face,  that  he  was  a  higher 
officer.  He  gave  me  a  friendly  reply  and  rode 
on.  He  was  dressed  like  a  private  soldier. 

This  long,  wearisome  trekking  through  the 
broad,  monotonous  country  devoid  of  human 
beings ;  this  lying  and  smoking  in  the  resting 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  141 

hours  in  the  shade  of  the  wagons,  and  the 
familiar,  comfortable,  slow  talking,  —  teasing 
and  a  little  bragging;  this  meagre  food  and 
scanty  drink ;  a  shot  in  the  bush  at  a  flock  of 
partridges,  or,  if  good  luck  would  have  it  so, 
at  an  antelope;  four  hours'  sleep  by  the  flicker- 
ing fire  with  my  saddle  under  my  head,  —  all 
this  I  was  now  experiencing  again.  And  it 
seemed  to  me,  now  that  I  was  for  the  second 
time  on  the  road,  as  if  I  had  known  this 
country  for  a  long,  long  time ;  as  if  long,  long 
ago,  before  I  was  born,  I  had  passed  through 
a  wild  land  beside  a  wagon  and  had  slept  and 
rested  in  its  shelter.  Such  a  feeling  is  due 
probably  to  the  fact  that  these  are  the  experi- 
ences of  the  forefathers,  which  sleep  a  long 
sleep  through  generations  and  again  raise  their 
hoary  heads  in  the  fancy  of  the  child  who  is 
again  led  in  the  same  ways  and  by-paths. 

On  the  third  evening,  when  we  reached  a 
water-place  just  at  nightfall,  we  found  a  re- 
turning train  of  three  wagons  already  camp- 
ing there.  They  were  just  digging  a  grave,  for 
one  of  the  typhoid-fever  patients  whom  they 


142  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

had  brought  had  died.  I  sprang  into  the  grave 
and  made  it  half  a  yard  deeper ;  they  would  n't 
•wait  any  longer.  Then  we  lowered  him  by 
bridle-straps  fastened  together,  in  his  full  uni- 
form, and  we  laid  his  hat  over  his  face.  By 
his  grave  stood  six  Germans,  burned  brown, 
eight  Boers,  still  browner,  all  wearing  soft 
hats  and  high  boots,  and  seventeen  black  men. 
The  Boers  shot  over  him.  When  his  mother 
in  a  village  in  Pomerania  held  him  on  her  lap, 
she  did  not  dream  that  he  would  go  to  his 
grave  so  young,  so  far  away,  and  with  such  a 
strange  following. 

When,  late  in  the  evening,  we  went  over  to 
the  Boers'  fire  to  ask  them  about  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  at  the  front,  I  noticed  that  a 
good  dark  brown  horse  was  tied  to  the  last 
wagon.  I  resolved  to  nab  him  for  myself  and 
began  to  look  for  an  opportunity.  We  were 
to  go  on  soon  after  midnight.  When  we  were 
setting  out,  I  sneaked  back ;  but  the  Boers' 
dog  barked  and  there  was  something  stirring 
back  of  the  wagon.  I  leaped  away  then,  and 
a  shot  cracked  behind  me.  The  lieutenant  and 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  143 

the  others  laughed  at  the  long  jumps  I  took. 
I  was  always  on  the  lookout  after  that  to  see 
how  I  might  capture  a  horse,  for  my  Argen- 
tiner  was  induced  to  trot  with  more  and  more 
difficulty  from  day  to  day,  and  I  knew  from 
the  many  dead  horses  along  our  route  that 
the  front  was  badly  provided  with  them.  If  I 
did  not  have  a  horse  there,  I  should  be  only 
half  a  soldier,  and  above  all  I  could  not  then 
reconnoitre. 

At  evening  on  the  fourth  day  we  overtook 
another  provision  column,  which  had  been  de- 
layed by  the  oxen  straying  off.  We  rested  for 
the  night  at  the  same  water-place  with  this 
column  and  kept  with  it  the  next  day. 

The  man  who  conducted  this  train  had  al- 
ready been  six  years  in  the  country.  He  had 
first  been  for  three  years  in  the  home  guard, 
then  he  had  become  a  trader ;  that  is,  he  had 
gone  out  from  the  railroad  with  an  ox  wagon 
and  had  traveled  about  in  the  interior  toward 
the  north,  selling  plug  tobacco,  colored  calico, 
and  schnapps  to  the  blacks,  and  getting  his 
pay  in  calves  and  oxen.    In  Windhuk  he  had 


144  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

sold  these  to  a  wholesale  dealer,  but  had  al- 
ways put  a  few  out  to  graze  in  the  care  of  a 
friendly  farmer.  He  had  already  in  this  way 
gained  for  himself  a  considerable  capital  and 
had  had  the  intention  to  go  north  once  more, 
but  this  time  to  buy  land  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  friendly  farmer.  Then  the  whole  black 
population  round  about  him  had  revolted  in 
furious  hate  against  their  hard,  sly,  foreign 
plunderers.  He  had  saved  himself  with  great 
difficulty,  together  with  all  his  goods,  to  the 
south,  and  had  enlisted  now  as  a  reserve. 

I  asked  him  many  questions  and  he  an- 
swered deliberately  as  he  lay  by  the  wagon 
with  his  short  black  scheck-pipe  in  his  mouth. 
I  asked  him  how  he  went  about  it  to  establish 
a  farm.  "  I  hunt  out  a  place  with  good  pastur- 
age and  good  water,"  he  replied  ;  "  then  I  get 
the  government  to  allot  me  about  five  thou- 
sand hectares.  It  is  not  as  exact  as  in  Ger- 
many; the  line  would  go  from  the  tree  to  the 
water-hole,  and  then  to  the  path,  and  so  on. 
Then  I  let  the  few  cattle  that  I  own  graze 
there,  and  they  feed  and  water  themselves  and 


ANOTHER   EXPEDITION  145 

multiply  just  as  in  the  time  of  Abraham  and 
Jacob.  After  two  or  three  years  I  have  already 
a  whole  herd.  Meanwhile  I  build  myself  a  lit- 
tle stone  house.  When  I  begin  by  degrees  to 
sell  off  a  few  cattle,  I  get  a  better  house."  I 
asked  him  if  in  spite  of  the  revolt  and  all  the 
devastation  he  would  stay  in  the  country. 
"  See!  "  he  said,  "  here  you  can  go  and  stay 
and  rest  and  trek  a  hundred  miles  and  no  one 
tells  you  what  you  are  to  do  or  not  to  do,  and 
you  have  no  anxiety  about  your  neighbor  on 
the  next  floor  or  across  the  hall,  or  about  the 
paper  in  the  living-room,  or  your  daily  bread. 
When  you  have  eaten  one  calf,  you  kill  an- 
other. If  you  don't  care  for  veal  any  longer, 
you  kill  a  goat.  Or  you  go  on  a  hunt  as  far 
as  you  please,  three  hours  or  three  days,  and 
if  you  don't  get  a  shot  just  right  at  anything 
on  the  way,  you  tighten  up  your  belt  a  little." 
I  asked  if  he  would  probably  marry.  He 
looked  sidelong  at  me  and  said  :  "  When  the 
war  is  over,  a  girl  with  whom  I  have  entered 
into  an  understanding  by  correspondence  is 
coming  out.  I  know  her  parents  and  I  know 


146  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

her  a  little,  too.  The  farmers'  wives  here  have 
a  good  time  of  it,  you  can  believe, — little 
work,  no  envy  and  quarreling,  plenty  of  land, 
cows,  and  oxen,  a  horse  to  ride,  and  no  anx- 
iety about  getting  enough  to  live  on."  So  he 
told  me,  and  I  was  glad  to  hear  it  all;  and  I 
could  perfectly  understand  all  he  said. 

The  bush  was  becoming  somewhat  less  dense. 
Sometimes  we  would  pass  with  our  long  train 
through  a  magnificent  open  plain  ;  then  again 
our  course  would  lead  through  thick  bush  so 
tall  that  one  could,  if  need  be,  ride  through  it 
under  the  treetops,  which  touched  each  other. 
The  days  were  clear  and  hot,  as  almost  always 
in  this  country ;  the  nights  were  cold,  once  so 
cold  that  our  beards  got  icy  and  the  water- 
sacks  froze.  The  further  to  the  north  we  went, 
the  more  frequent  were  great  tracts  which  the 
enemy  had  burned  to  take  our  pasturage  from 
us.  Every  evening  we  saw  a  deep  glow  of  fire 
to  the  north  of  us.  Around  the  water-places 
the  fields  were  bare  for  a  considerable  distance ; 
the  water  was  poor  and  had  been  polluted  be- 
sides. More  and  more  frequently  horses  which 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  147 

had  collapsed  and  oxen  which  had  got  weak 
and  had  dropped  in  front  of  their  wagons  were 
lying  in  the  road.  Often  they  used  to  make 
a  fire  behind  these  flabby  oxen  to  get  them  up, 
but  they  lay  there  and  died  on  the  same  spot. 
On  the  eighth  day  there  was  a  dead  or  dying 
animal  every  half-mile. 

In  the  forenoon  of  the  eighth  day  we  saw 
not  far  to  the  north  of  us  the  elliptical  balloon 
that  floated  in  the  air  over  the  camp.  So  at 
noon  we  rested  only  during  the  worst  of  the 
heat  and  then  pushed  on,  reaching  the  camp 
at  evening. 

The  men  there  were  just  at  their  cooking. 
In  their  high,  yellow  boots,  full  trousers,  and 
shirtsleeves,  they  were  sitting  or  bustling  about 
the  cooking-holes,  and  they  called  to  us  as  we 
marched  through  to  know  if  we  had  brought 
mail  with  us.  They  seemed  to  be  in  good  spir- 
its; the  majority  of  them  had,  indeed,  been 
only  a  month  on  land.  In  one  corner  was 
quartered  a  whole  troop  of  Wittboys,  hideous- 
looking  men  with  wild,  yellow  faces.  They  had 
come  from  the  south  of  our  colony  to  help  us, 


148  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  wore  our  uniform  and  were  commanded 
by  German  officers.  In  another  corner  the 
great  black  horde  of  drivers  were  encamped 
around  their  fire,  laughing  and  talking.  Wag- 
ons and  fieldpieces  were  standing  around  sin- 
gly or  in  groups.  But  I  was  surprised  the  next 
morning  to  see  how  full  the  hospital  was.  I 
was  surprised,  too,  at  the  horses ;  not  that  they 
had  become  rough  from  the  cold  nights,  but 
that  they  were  so  thin  and  worn  out.  Many 
had  in  addition  bad  wounds  around  the  mouth 
from  the  dry,  sharp  grass,  and  some  had  on 
their  flanks  great  open  sores  covered  with 
flies.  Many  of  the  men  had  lost  their  horses 
and  were  going  on  foot. 

We  were  the  centre  division  of  the  six  great 
divisions  which  were  coming  upon  the  enemy 
in  a  half -circle  in  order  to  crush  them,  and  for 
that  reason  we  were  the  headquarters.  That 
same  evening  I  saw  the  general  addressing  a 
scouting  party,  which  then  rode  out  into  the 
night.  He  was  a  decided-looking,  erect  man, 
with  gray  hair  and  eyes. 

We  were  no  longer  far  from  the  enemy. 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  149 

Every  reconnoitring  party  that  was  sent  ahead 
and  came  back  got  sight  of  them.  Some  of 
these  parties  suffered  severe  losses,  and  one,  led 
by  a  lieutenant,  was  entirely  annihilated.  I 
was  glad  to  be  again  in  a  real  army  among  so 
many  cheerful  soldiers,  and  I  quite  revived. 
Every  day  we  practiced  industriously  in  the 
bush,  making  sallies,  slinking,  and  creeping 
through,  and  storming ;  we  cleaned  our  arms, 
and  did  our  mending  and  cooking.  Once  I 
was  off  all  day  long  hunting  strayed  horses. 
I  found  them  and  appropriated  one,  a  light 
brown  East  Prussian,  and  in  exchange  put  my 
Argentine  among  those  that  I  found.  I  think 
the  lieutenant  noticed  it,  but  he  didn't  say 
anything.  He  had  taken  me  into  his  company. 

In  the  evenings  some  of  us  who  got  on  well 
together  and  liked  each  other  used  to  gather 
under  a  wagon  or  by  a  cook-hole.  Of  my  old 
comrades  I  met  only  Gehlsen  and  Peters  again, 
who  were  now  wagon  conductors  in  the  staff 
guard.  Among  the  new  ones  was  one  from 
Brunsbiittel. 

I  sat  now  among  almost  entirely  new  fellows 


150  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  listened  to  their  conversation.  I  had  be- 
come more  silent  after  all  I  had  gone  through, 
and  from  the  extent  and  barrenness  and  heat 
of  the  land  in  which  I  had  now  lived  for  six 
months  I  had  become  slower  and  more  apa- 
thetic than  was  really  my  nature.  They  used 
to  like  to  talk  about  their  former  service  or 
their  homes  or  their  callings.  At  last  this  one 
and  that  one  came  to  speak  of  the  reasons 
that  had  led  them  to  enlist  as  volunteers  for 
South  Africa.  Some  wanted  to  stay  in  the 
army  and  get  promoted  faster.  Some  wanted 
to  earn  a  little  money  from  the  war  bounty  in 
order  to  help  their  parents  or  to  make  them- 
selves independent  in  their  vocations.  Many 
had  been  driven  out  by  a  youthful  joy  and 
enthusiasm,  the  Germanic  desire  for  war  and 
foreign  parts.  Some  enlisted  in  order  to  see  a 
bit  of  the  world  at  the  expense  of  the  govern- 
ment. Some,  so  it  seemed  to  me,  wanted  to 
experience  something  about  which  they  could 
boast  for  the  rest  of  their  lives.  Some  were 
silent  as  to  the  reasons  which  had  impelled 
them ;  but  those  who  knew  them  well  said  of 


ANOTHER   EXPEDITION  151 

one  that  he  had  had  the  misfortune  accident- 
ally to  kill  a  schoolmate  while  playing  with  him, 
and  of  another  that  he  had  been  thrown  over 
by  his  sweetheart.  These  two  were  quiet  fel- 
lows and  often  sat  apart  from  the  rest.  But 
we  talked  mostly  about  the  enemy,  about  their 
method  of  fighting,  about  their  strength  and 
intentions,  and  about  the  decisive  blow  that  we 
wanted  to  inflict  on  them. 

There  were  also  among  us  some  privates  who 
had  formerly  been  officers  and  had  in  some 
way  lost  their  swords.  As  they  might  hope  to 
regain  their  rank  only  in  a  war,  they  had  longed 
for  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  and  had  imme- 
diately applied  as  volunteers  for  the  Southwest. 
Now  they  were  common  soldiers.  One  of  these 
talked  on  the  very  first  evening,  with  big  words, 
a  great  deal  about  recognition  of  duty,  self- 
discipline,  sense  of  honor,  and  such  things,  so 
that  I  thought :  "  What  an  honorable  man  ! 
How  could  he  have  lost  his  sword?"  But 
soon  after  and  later  I  observed  in  the  sand-field 
that  he  was  making  these  speeches  for  him- 
self, for  he  was  always  sulking  and  grumbling, 


152  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

especially  at  those  who  were  set  over  him,  from 
the  non-commissioned  officer  up  to  the  general 
himself,  and  he  shirked  every  sort  of  work. 
Another  was  a  lovable,  helpful,  and  cheerful 
comrade  whom  we  all  liked  and  for  whom  we 
all  wished  the  best.  He  was  brave,  too,  at 
Hamakari.  But  he  probably  never  attained  his 
object,  and  if  he  had  it  would  n't  have  been  of 
much  use  to  him,  for  when  the  chance  came 
he  forgot  all  his  good  intentions  and  drank 
and  gambled  like  a  madman.  But  the  others 
—  I  heard  about  several  of  them — were  brave 
men,  good,  simple  soldiers,  straight  and  silent 
in  drill,  like  lions  in  a  fight ;  and  several  of 
them  fell,  for  only  if  they  were  severely 
wounded  or  mentioned  for  distinction  did  they 
win  their  swords  again. 

In  another  company  there  was  one  fellow 
who  had  married  young,  so  the  story  went,  and 
had  worked  up  to  be  first  lieutenant.  Two 
girls  and  then  a  little  boy  were  born  to  him, 
and  he  was  just  mad  with  joy  over  the  event. 
His  old,  inherited  fault,  which  he  had  bravely 
held  in  control,  raised  its  head;  he  got  very 


ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  153 

drunk  and  was  mixed  up  in  a  street  brawl.  So 
he  was  dismissed,  and  now  he  was  here  in  the 
Southwest.  He  sat  alone  a  great  deal,  sunk 
into  himself,  never  uttering  a  superfluous 
word.  They  said  he  never  wrote  to  his  wife 
and  children.  Every  one,  officers  and  men 
alike,  showed  him  consideration.  But  once, 
when  in  Okahandja  a  one-year  volunteer  came 
up  to  him  with  a  glass  of  wine  in  his  hand, 
and  said  to  him  good-naturedly,  "To  your 
youngest !  "  the  unfortunate  fellow,  who 
seemed  like  one  under  a  curse,  gave  him  such 
a  look  that  the  volunteer  stepped  back  with  a 
pale  face  and  an  overturned  glass. 

Here  I  finally  got  a  letter  from  home  which 
had  sought  me  a  long  time.  They  all  wrote. 
Father  wrote  about  the  business  ;  mother  had 
talked  to  Dr.  Bartels  about  how  I  could  best 
protect  myself  against  typhoid ;  the  small  sis- 
ters wrote  about  their  new  Sunday  clothes.  As 
I  read  their  letters,  I  nursed  the  thought  that 
I  alone  was  grown  up  and  that  I  had  three 
such  little  sisters.  It  had  never  occurred  to  me 
till  now.  While  I  was  still  pondering  over  it, 


154  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

I  looked  up  and  saw  by  chance  that  a  scout- 
ing party  were  coming  home,  covered  with 
dust,  their  faces  and  hands  lacerated  with 
thorns.  They  were  riding  weary,  wounded 
horses,  and  by  their  side  they  led  two  black 
prisoners  tied  with  a  rope.  Then  I  realized 
where  I  was;  I  cast  my  day-dreams  into  a 
corner  and  got  up  to  look  after  my  horse. 


XIII 

A  DANGEROUS  MISSION 

As  I  had  been  longer  in  the  country  than  the 
others,  I  received,  on  the  fifth  day  after  my 
arrival,  a  commission  from  headquarters  to 
carry,  with  three  men,  a  letter  of  instruction 
to  the  westerly  division,  which,  as  it  was  the 
last  to  arrive  from  Germany,  was  still  some- 
what behind  in  the  march. 

I  arranged  it  so  that  the  Mecklenburger 
got  a  better  horse,  and  saw  to  it  myself  that 
the  saddles  were  in  good  condition  and  that  the 
necessary  provisions  and  eight  pounds  of  oats 
were  in  every  saddle-bag.  Then  we  rode  out 
toward  the  west  in  the  clear  night.  The  first 
lieutenant  had  talked  it  all  over  with  me  ex- 
plicitly, —  the  water-place,  the  trail,  and  the 
direction  I  was  to  take  according  to  the  cross 
which  was  clear  in  the  heavens.  I  was  to  ride 
south  as  far  as  possible  and  then  northwest,  to 


156  PETER  MOORS  JOURNEY 

see  how  far  to  the  south  the  enemy  was  sit- 
uated ;  but  after  a  ride  of  about  forty  miles  I 
was  to  turn  back  whether  I  had  accomplished 
anything  or  not. 

We  rode  briskly,  first  trotting  the  horses 
fifteen  minutes  and  then  walking  them  five. 
A  blond  boy,  son  of  a  Berlin  cab-driver,  rode 
ahead,  then  I  myself  and  a  young  Alsatian,  and 
behind  us  the  man  from  Mecklenburg.  It  was 
a  cold,  clear,  very  bright  night,  not  moonlight, 
but  many  stars  shone  brilliantly  over  the  whole 
sky. 

The  first  three  hours  passed  without  any 
special  occurrence.  The  Berliner  and  I  kept 
sharp  watch  in  front  and  to  the  side.  The  Al- 
satian near  me  took  strange  positions  in  his 
saddle  from  time  to  time  and  confessed  to  me 
in  a  low  voice  that  he  had  galled  himself 
badly  but  had  been  very  anxious  to  take  the 
ride  with  us.  The  Mecklenburger  trotted  faith- 
fully along  in  the  sand  behind  us.  It  was  so 
bright  that  I  could  see  the  dust  thrown  high 
by  the  horses'  hoofs.  Between  the  dull  thuds 
of  the  hoofs  on  the  sand  sounded  from  a  dis- 


A   DANGEROUS  MISSION  157 

tance  out  of  the  bush  the  long,  wailing  howl 
of  a  jackal  or  the  sharp  laugh  of  a  hyena, 
which  startled  me  every  time  it  suddenly  oc- 
curred. Sometimes  a  horse  would  stumble  and 
his  rider  would  pull  him  up  again,  swearing 
under  his  breath.  Now  and  then  a  hoof  would 
strike  a  stone  so  that  it  rang  out  sharply.  To 
the  northwest  a  bright  glow  of  fire  could  be 
seen  above  the  bush  behind  tall,  distant  trees. 
The  Berliner  maintained  that  he  could  smell 
a  grass  fire.  The  moon  rose,  and  its  clear, 
mild  light  lay  soft  and  still,  far  over  the  bush. 
Somewhere  about  midnight,  as  we  were 
trotting  up  a  slowly  ascending  wagon  trail, 
the  Berliner  raised  his  hand  and  pointed  to 
the  right  in  front  of  us  across  a  clearing.  Not 
five  hundred  yards  from  us,  low  on  the  ground, 
were  glowing  several  little  covered  fires,  like 
cats'  eyes  in  the  dark  among  the  bushes.  As 
our  horses  snorted  loudly,  which  they  often 
did  in  the  chilly  night  air, — and  the  night 
was  bitter  cold,  —  we  dismounted  quietly  and 
led  them  awhile,  spying  in  the  mean  time 
toward  the  fires  on  the  right.   We  came  soon 


158  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

to  a  place  where  the  long  grass  was  trodden 
down  on  both  sides  of  the  road.  Getting  down 
on  my  knees  and  creeping  for  a  little  way,  I 
saw  tracks  of  innumerable  children's  feet,  and 
among  them  those  of  full-grown  feet.  Great 
troops  of  children,  led  by  their  mothers,  had 
passed  over  the  road  here  to  the  northwest. 
I  stood  up  and,  going  to  a  low  tree  by  the 
road,  climbed  up  a  few  yards  in  my  heavy 
boots.  Thence  I  could  see  a  broad  moonlit 
slope,  rising  not  a  hundred  yards  distant,  and 
on  it  hundreds  of  rough  huts  constructed  of 
branches,  from  the  low  entrances  of  which  the 
fire-light  shone  out;  and  I  heard  children's 
crying  and  the  yelping  of  a  dog.  Thousands 
of  women  and  children  were  lying  there  under 
roofs  of  leaves  around  the  dying  fires.  And 
away  back  of  those,  on  the  ever-broadening 
slope  up  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains  which 
reared  their  heights  toward  the  blue,  starry 
sky,  stood  more  huts,  like  dark  and  indistinct 
lumps.  The  barking  of  dogs  and  lowing  of 
cattle  reached  my  ears.  I  gazed  at  the  great 
night-scene  with  sharp,  spying  eyes,  and  I  ob- 


A  DANGEROUS   MISSION  159 

served  minutely  the  site  of  the  camp  at  the 
base  of  the  mountains.  Still,  the  thought  went 
through  my  head  :  "  There  lies  a  people,  with 
all  its  children  and  all  its  possessions,  hard 
pressed  on  all  sides  by  the  horrible,  deadly 
lead,  and  condemned  to  death,"  and  it  sent 
cold  shudders  down  my  back. 

We  advanced  cautiously,  first  on  foot  and 
then  mounted.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  breaking 
morning  light  we  came  to  a  place  with  high, 
crisp  grass,  which  the  horses  liked  so  much 
that  we  loosened  their  saddles  and  let  them 
graze  for  an  hour,  while  we  stood  by,  the 
snaffles  in  our  hands.  At  the  right  of  the 
direction  in  which  we  were  traveling  rose 
steep  in  mighty  bulk  and  strength  like  a  ram- 
part the  extended  mountain,  in  front  of  which 
the  hostile  people  were  encamped ;  the  morn- 
ing sun  shone  warm  and  bright  on  the  forests 
lying  on  its  ridge,  and  was  driving  away  the 
mist  which  still  hung  on  the  corners  of  the 
woods.  When  we  mounted  again  I  noticed 
how  stiff  and  tired  our  horses  were,  especially 
the  horse  of  the  Mecklenburger. 


160  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

As  we  saw  nothing  more  of  the  enemy,  and 
as  no  tracks,  except  at  most  those  of  a  single 
traveler,  were  visible  on  the  road,  I  believed 
that  we  had  the  position  of  the  enemy  behind 
us.  The  Berliner  thought  so,  too.  So  we  rode 
on  for  four  hours,  in  continually  increasing 
heat,  and  came  then  upon  three  deep  water-holes 
in  the  limy  soil,  beside  a  tall  tree.  The  Ber- 
liner threw  in  a  stone  and  heard  by  the  splash 
that  there  was  water  at  the  bottom.  I  talked 
it  over  with  him  and  we  decided  we  would  have 
a  proper  noon  rest  here  on  the  horses'  ac- 
count, for  they  were  about  at  the  end  of  their 
strength.  We  unsaddled,  bound  the  snaffles 
together  with  the  fodder  bags  on  them,  and  let 
the  Berliner  go  down  and  fetch  up  a  little  bad 
but  cool  water  for  the  horses.  We  didn't 
drink  this  water  ourselves,  but  took  the  last  of 
what  we  had  in  our  water-sacks  and  filled 
them  up  with  the  bad  water.  Then  we  went  to 
a  tall  tree  to  eat.  I  know  still  that  the  thought 
went  through  my  head  that  we  ought  to  stay 
in  the  burning  sun  because  the  tree  stood  too 
near  the  bush;  but  I  allowed  the  others  the 


A   DANGEROUS   MISSION  161 

cool  shade  and  I  did  n't  want  the  fellow  from 
Berlin,  who  was  rather  conceited,  secretly  to 
think  me  cowardly ;  and  I  depended,  too,  on 
his  alertness,  for  he  was  to  hold  the  first  watch. 
Meanwhile  I  undertook  to  watch  the  horses.  I 
relate  all  this  so  minutely  because  I  always 
nursed  the  idea  that  I  neglected  something. 

When  I  had  stood  for  probably  two  hours 
with  the  grazing  horses,  and  was  just  going 
to  stoop  and  kill  a  great,  stinging  fly  that  had 
lighted  between  the  forelegs  of  my  horse  so 
that  he  was  stamping  violently,  I  heard  from 
the  clearing  a  short,  frightful  outcry,  which 
seemed  immediately  to  lay  a  hard  pressure 
on  my  brain.  Starting  up,  I  saw  that  twenty 
or  thirty  of  the  enemy,  armed  with  guns  and 
clubs,  were  pressing  round  my  comrades,  who 
remained  lying  under  the  shots  and  blows. 
The  Berliner,  still  half  reclining,  managed  to 
shoot ;  but  at  the  same  moment  that  he  held 
his  gun  to  his  cheek,  he  received  such  a  fear- 
ful blow  with  a  club  that  he  sank  back.  At 
that  moment,  too,  came  shots  directed  at  me 
from  the  left  across  the  clearing.  Loud  shouts 


162  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  abusive  words  filled  the  air.  Leaping  and 
creeping  they  came  at  me  through  the  tall, 
waving  grass.  Then  I  sprang,  with  the  snaffle 
still  in  my  hand,  upon  the  nearest  unsaddled 
horse,  got  the  tired  beast  into  a  gallop,  and 
escaped  along  the  bush. 

I  do  not  know  much  about  the  next  hours. 
I  only  know  that  my  head  was  horribly  heavy 
and  dull,  as  though  my  hat  was  full  of  lead, 
and  that  I  held  it  strangely  ducked  down  be- 
tween my  shoulders,  keeping  my  eyes  half 
closed  and  feeling  all  the  time  the  terrible 
blows  I  had  seen.  I  rode  along  probably 
three  hours  in  a  heavy  stupor,  brooding  in  a 
confused,  half -crazy  state.  How  and  when  I 
put  the  snaffle  on  my  horse  I  do  not  know.  It 
was  that  wretched  animal  which  the  Mecklen- 
burger  had  ridden. 

When  I  became  a  little  clearer  in  my  mind 
I  bethought  me  of  where  I  was  riding,  and  I 
did  n't  know.  I  looked  at  the  sun,  but  it  was 
directly  over  me.  Then  I  directed  my  course 
into  the  light  wind  which  had  blown  up  from 
the  sea  the  night  before,  and  rode  toward 


A  DANGEROUS  MISSION  163 

that.  I  rode  straight  ahead  all  the  time,  but 
did  n't  come  across  a  track  or  meet  a  human 
being. 

I  passed  cleared  places  and  through  thick 
bush,  which  met  over  my  head.  My  coat  was 
in  rags  from  the  thorns,  and  my  face  and 
hands  were  bleeding.  In  order  to  spare  my 
horse,  I  dismounted  from  time  to  time  and 
led  him,  for  he  was  overtired  and  suffering 
from  thirst.  Once  when  I  had  mounted  again 
and  was  riding  across  a  clearing,  he  stumbled 
and  fell  on  his  knees,  and  after  resting  awhile 
in  that  posture  he  fell  over  with  a  groan.  I 
left  him  and  went  along  on  foot. 

I  took  out  my  knife  and  bound  it  with  a 
scrap  of  rope  to  my  left  wrist  so  as  to  have  it 
ready  when  I  could  no  longer  use  my  gun.  I 
preferred  to  take  my  own  life  rather  than  to 
fall  alive  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  When 
the  knife  was  firmly  fastened,  I  ventured  to 
shoot  three  times,  and  listened  for  an  answer ; 
but  none  came.  The  sun  was  beginning  to 
descend,  and  I  saw  now  where  the  west  was ; 
but  that  did  n't  help  me  much,  for  I  had  no 


164  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

idea  in  what  direction  I  had  ridden  the  first 
few  hours  after  the  attack.  My  tongue  lay 
heavy  and  thick  in  my  mouth,  my  throat  was 
dry  down  into  my  chest,  and  my  thoughts 
were  dull.  I  thought  I  must  die  here  so  miser- 
ably and  alone!  How  gladly  had  I  lain  instead 
with  my  dear  friends  under  that  tree  in  the 
far  east !  I  tortured  myself  with  thought  of 
home,  and  in  imagination  gave  each  one  my 
hand  and  said  I  was  now  about  to  depart  this 
life  and  they  must  n't  grieve  so  very  much,  — 
life  was  n't  worth  much  any  way ;  and  I  went 
to  the  first  lieutenant  and  said  he  had  trusted 
me  in  vain.  I  was  n't  a  clear-headed,  calm 
fellow,  but  from  childhood  had  been  a  dreamer. 
I  wanted  to  speak  a  word  to  hear  my  voice, 
but  I  could  not. 

I  went  on,  however,  in  my  heavy  boots, 
through  sand  and  high,  sparse,  hard  grass, 
climbed  two  or  three  times  into  trees  or  onto 
an  ant-heap.  Once  I  was  startled  by  a  great, 
heavy  beast  like  an  ox,  only  with  two  long 
horns  standing  straight  up  like  a  stag's  horns. 
I  didn't  find  out  what  sort  of  animal  this 


A   DANGEROUS  MISSION  165 

was,  for  I  never  talked  to  any  one  about  those 
hours.  Once  in  a  while  a  gigantic  dead  tree 
would  loom  up  before  me.  In  the  branches  of 
one  such  hung  a  dark,  thickly  interwoven  mass 
as  large  and  of  the  same  shape  as  the  body 
of  an  ox.  In  this  lived  numberless  little  gray 
birds.  A  thick  black  snake  writhed  slowly 
out  of  the  nests  and  turned  its  head,  hissing, 
this  way  and  that,  as  if  blinded  by  the  sun- 
light. I  ran  on  in  a  fright.  Once  I  clambered 
up  a  rock  that  rose  suddenly  ten  yards  high 
out  of  the  bush.  I  saw  nothing,  however,  ex- 
cept smoke  or  sunlit  dust  in  several  places  in 
the  distance.  Far  and  wide  around  me  lay  the 
silent  bush. 

Toward  evening  I  came  upon  an  indistinct, 
long-unused  wagon  trail.  I  rested  not  far  from 
this,  hidden  in  the  bush,  —  for  I  thought  some 
one  might  come  along  the  road,  —  and  I  fell 
asleep.  When  I  woke  because  I  was  so  cold,  it 
was  dark.  It  was  a  clear,  starry  night  like  the 
preceding  one.  I  stood  up  and  looked  about 
me  in  great  distress  and  wished  that  I  were 
dead. 


166  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

Suddenly,  while  I  was  standing  there,  a 
vivid,  sharp  flash  of  light  came  over  the  bush 
diagonally  before  me.  Again  !  and  now  again  ! 
A  signal  station ;  but  how  far  off  ?  Probably 
many,  many  miles.  How  bright  it  shone !  There 
were  comrades !  There  was  salvation !  It  was 
madness  to  run  to  it ;  but  I  noticed  the  direc- 
tion in  the  sky  and  ran  as  fast  as  I  could. 

I  ran  a  good  two  hours  or  more,  tearing  my 
clothes  and  face  and  hands  on  the  terribly  long, 
hard  thorns.  Then  I  perceived  that  I  was  get- 
ting nearer,  for  the  light  was  plainly  beginning 
to  flash  higher  above  the  bushes,  but  was  too 
near  to  be  coming  down  from  a  high,  distant 
mountain.  I  shouted  as  loud  as  I  could  and 
ran  on  once  more,  but  I  soon  gave  that  up. 
After  running  probably  half  an  hour,  I  began 
shouting  again,  so  that  they  should  not  shoot 
at  me. 

They  were  beginning  to  answer,  "  Come  this 
way !  Who  are  you?  Come  on! "  I  came  out  of 
the  bushes  and  ran  across  the  clearing  to  them 
where  they  were  standing  at  the  foot  of  jagged 
rocks,  and  told  them  who  I  was  and  what  had 


A   DANGEROUS  MISSION  167 

happened  to  me.  "  Poor  devil ! "  they  said. 
"  We  can  be  of  very  little  help.  We  are  sitting 
here  ourselves  in  the  worst  case  possible.  Our 
under  officer,  who  understands  giving  the  sig- 
nals, went  yesterday  to  the  water-hole  and  did 
n't  come  back ;  and  the  corporal,  who  is  now 
working  the  lamp,  is  sick.  We  have  had  no 
relief  from  duty  for  fourteen  days ;  no  sleep, 
no  bread,  only  a  little  bit  of  rice,  some  canned 
meat,  and  water ;  and  we  are  waiting  for  the 
blacks  to  come  and  finish  us."  Two  of  the 
men  had  remained  indifferent,  lying  wrapped 
in  their  cloaks.  "  They  are  sick,"  said  the 
others. 

I  did  n't  hear  what  they  were  saying ;  I 
heard  only  the  word  water  and  begged  for 
some.  They  gave  me  two  covers  full  out  of  a 
water-sack,  but  it  was  vile  tasting  and  I  did  n't 
take  the  third  coverful.  Meanwhile  the  cor- 
poral kept  calling  down  from  above  to  know 
who  was  there,  and  if  relief  had  come.  I  ob- 
served from  his  speech  that  he  was  a  Bavarian. 
The  others  said :  "  Go  up  and  talk  to  him  and 
cheer  him  up.  He  has  n't  slept  for  two  nights." 


168  PETER  MOOR'S   JOURNEY 

I  climbed  laboriously  up  the  rocks  and 
reached  him.  He  was  standing  with  his  cloak 
on,  taking  the  blinder  off  the  lamp  in  correct 
time  so  that  the  flashes  glared  harshly  out  into 
the  night.  The  light  flickered  in  the  icy-cold 
night  wind.  His  whole  body  was  shivering. 
Now  he  stopped  manipulating  the  lamp  and 
looked  sharply  over  the  dark  bush  toward  a 
light  that  flashed  out  on  the  distant  horizon, 
and  he  wrote  rapidly  on  a  block  of  paper  what 
he  saw.  He  asked  me  in  broken  sentences 
where  I  had  come  from  and  where  I  was  going 
and  said : "  We  are  dirty  and  hungry  and  thirsty 
and  sick,  and  two  of  us  are  already  done  for, 
but  no  one  comes  to  relieve  us."  I  asked  him : 
"Have  you  connections  with  the  new  division?" 
He  replied:  "Just  now  in  the  last  hour";  and 
he  smiled  mournfully  and  added :  "  I  am  going 
mad  here.  Yesterday  night  I  signaled  mere 
foolishness  over  and  over :  '  So  we  live,  so  we 
live,'  and  such  things ;  but  they  did  n't  under- 
stand the  nonsense."  He  let  the  block  fall, 
crouched  down  and  shook  himself.  He  seemed 
to  think  that  I  was  to  relieve  him. 


A  DANGEROUS  MISSION  169 

I  wanted  to  brighten  him  up,  so  I  questioned 
him  about  the  lights  which  flashed  here  and 
there  in  the  darkness.  He  pulled  himself  to- 
gether and  pointed  out  to  me  with  a  nervous, 
hasty  hand  the  light  of  each  division.  These 
lay  in  a  half-circle  around  the  enemy,  ready 
to  crush  them  on  the  morrow  against  the 
broad  wall  of  the  mountain  in  front  of  which 
they  were  encamped.  While  he  was  still  show- 
ing me,  a  new  light  flashed  down  from  the 
mountain.  Vivid  and  bold,  it  suddenly  ap- 
peared there.  "  See  !  "  he  cried,  "  they  have 
climbed  up  on  the  mountain.  Now  they  are 
standing  up  there  over  the  heads  of  the  enemy, 
seeing  everything  and  reporting  what  they 
see."  I  gazed  for  a  long  time  at  the  flaring 
light,  and  in  spite  of  my  own  plight  I  thought 
of  the  ten  or  twenty  comrades  sitting  up  here 
on  these  unfriendly  heights  expecting  every 
moment  to  be  overwhelmed.  And  I  looked 
at  the  broad,  black  stretch  of  land  that  lay 
dark  among  all  the  lights.  There  in  the  bush 
lay  the  hostile  people.  With  what  thoughts 
must  they  and  their  children  see  the  light  ? 


170  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

The  Bavarian  had  again  reached  out  to  the 
lamp  and  wanted  to  pass  on  what  he  had  re- 
ceived. He  was  talking  softly  to  himself ;  then 
he  sank  down  in  a  heap  and  again  pulled  him- 
self up  stiff.  Just  then  we  heard  from  out  the 
bush  the  snorting  of  horses,  and  immediately 
after  the  sharp  voice  of  an  officer.  I  climbed 
hastily  down  and  stood  by,  and  heard  him  ask- 
ing what  the  matter  was  here  that  such  crazy 
messages  had  come.  At  that  I  stepped  forward 
and  explained  that  I  was  Corporal  Moor ;  I  told 
whence  I  had  come  and  said  that  the  Bavarian 
up  there  was  sick  and  no  longer  quite  in  his 
right  mind,  and  that  I  had  lost  comrades  and 
horse  and  should  like  to  go  back  to  my  division 
again. 

He  sent  a  man  up  the  hill  and  said  it  was  n't 
necessary  for  me  to  take  the  dangerous  ride 
again  at  once,  for  they  now  had  signal  con- 
nection once  more  with  headquarters.  But  I 
said :  "  I  have  lost  my  comrades  and  I  must 
report  how  it  happened." 

He  probably  had  sympathy  for  me,  for  he 
said :  "  We  have  an  extra  nag  among  us.  He  is 


A   DANGEROUS   MISSION  171 

not  beautiful,  but  if  you  want  to  go  on,  you 
shall  have  him."  He  went  with  me  himself  to 
the  horse,  and  I  believe  he  gave  me  a  better 
one  than  he  intended  at  first ;  for  I  heard  him 
say  in  a  low  voice  to  his  subordinate  :  "  He  has 
seven  hours  to  ride  and  he  is  riding  alone." 

He  looked  after  the  saddle  and  bridle  him- 
self, and  asked  if  I  belonged  regularly  to  the 
cavalry.  Pulling  at  the  girth,  he  said :  "  After 
three  hours  you  must  tighten  the  girth,"  and 
showed  me  the  provisions  for  me  and  the  horse 
in  the  saddle-bag.  Then  he  called  up  to  the 
hill :  "  Where  are  the  headquarters  ?  "  They 
pointed  them  out,  and  he  showed  me  the 
direction  again  by  the  Cross,  which  was  clear 
in  the  sky,  and  instructed  me  to  ride  straight 
ahead  till  I  came  to  the  big  path.  With  that 
he  let  me  go. 

On  this  ride,  which  lasted  ten  hours,  I  had 
no  sort  of  accident.  Dead  tired  I  reached  the 
road  which  my  division  were  following,  and, 
indeed,  I  drank  and  watered  my  horse  at  the 
place  they  had  left  two  days  before.  I  then 
took  the  same  road  they  had  taken.  Many  dead 


172  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

and  dying  animals  lay  along  the  road.  At  the 
next  water-place  I  came  upon  the  division  rest- 
ing. I  announced  myself,  reported,  and  then 
went  to  my  mess  company,  and  sitting  down 
on  the  ground  slept  like  a  dead  man  for  six 
hours.  They  told  me  afterwards  that  they  had 
besieged  me  with  questions  and  I  had  looked 
at  them  without  saying  a  word  and  had  fallen 
back  and  slept. 

That  evening  the  camp  was  full  of  life. 
Every  one  was  busy.  One  was  looking  after 
his  gun ;  another  was  carefully  filling  his  car- 
tridge-belt ;  a  third  was  caring  for  his  horse ; 
a  fourth  and  a  fifth  were  lying  on  the  ground, 
writing  home.  When  we  lay  down  to  sleep 
around  our  cooking-hole,  the  volunteer,  who 
was  ten  years  older  than  we,  said : "  Well,  boys, 
say  '  Our  Father '  once  more.  Who  knows  if 
you  '11  be  able  to  to-morrow  night?" 

No  fire  was  lighted  that  night. 


XIV 

THE   FLIGHT  OF  A  NATION 

Before  midnight  we  advanced  toward  the 
enemy.  It  was  said  that  our  division  would 
come  upon  them  about  morning.  The  Witt- 
boys  rode  on  ahead  as  spies.  Then  came  our 
company.  One  part  was  detached  to  ride  at 
the  side  of  the  road  in  the  bush ;  the  other 
part  was  to  keep  on  riding  in  the  road.  I  was 
in  the  third  platoon.  Behind  me  in  compact 
array  came  the  artillery.  We  marched  as  quietly 
as  possible,  but  still  there  were  all  sorts  of  noises : 
snorting  of  horses,  jolting  of  wheels,  an  impa- 
tient, angry  shout,  or  a  blow  with  a  whip.  I 
was  very  cold  in  the  saddle,  and,  in  order  not 
to  have  stiff  fingers  later,  when  I  had  to  shoot, 
I  laid  the  reins  over  my  cartridge-belt  and  put 
my  hands  in  my  pockets. 

At  last  morning  broke,  and  delicate,  rosy 
stripes  of  light  soon  shot  up  toward  the  zenith. 


174  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

The  colors  grew  rapidly  deeper,  brighter,  and 
stronger.  The  red  was  glorious  in  its  fullness 
and  the  blue  beautiful  in  its  purity.  The  light 
mounted  and  extended  itself,  ascending  like  a 
new  world  a  thousand  times  more  beautiful 
than  the  old  one.  Then  came  the  sun,  big  and 
clear,  looking  like  a  great,  placid,  wide-open 
eye.  Although  like  a  good  soldier  I  had  all 
my  thoughts  fixed  on  what  was  before  me,  on 
the  enemy,  and  the  bad  hours  I  should  prob- 
ably meet  with,  yet  I  saw  the  splendor  of  the 
sky. 

Near  me  rode  a  fellow  from  Hamburg,  a 
fresh,  quiet  boy.  He  said  once  to  me  :  "  You 
see,  one  has  to  have  experienced  something, 
or  how  shall  one  become  a  serious,  capable 
man?  That's  why  I  came  here."  He  was  to 
enter  his  father's  business  later.  He  was  riding 
just  as  I  was,  his  reins  over  his  cartridge-belt 
and  his  hands  in  his  pockets;  he  was  frowning 
this  morning,  and  kept  a  sharp  lookout  before 
him.  Diagonally  behind  me  rode  the  former 
officer. 

About  this  time  of  day,  according  to  the  pre- 


THE  FLIGHT  OF  A   NATION  175 

dictions  of  our  scouts,  we  ought  to  reach  the 
enemy,  but  they  were  not  to  be  seen.  Then  I 
thought,  us  did  many  others,  that  again  there 
would  be  no  fighting,  and  I  was  annoyed. 
Shortly  after  this,  however,  we  heard  the  thun- 
der of  cannon  coming  from  our  right. 

It  got  to  be  eight  o'clock,  and  nine.  The 
bush  was  so  dense  that  the  parties  sent  into 
it  could  not  advance.  They  came  out  and 
marched  together  along  the  road.  The  sun  was 
steadily  mounting;  it  was  getting  to  be  a  hot 
day.  It  began  to  be  warm  riding,  and  the  horses 
were  growing  tired.  A  little  thin  lieutenant 
with  a  drawn  face  and  sharp  eyes  rode  up 
alongside  of  me  and  said,  in  a  suppressed  voice : 
"  We  are  n't  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  water- 
holes."  Several  times  in  the  last  few  days  he 
had  made  dangerous  excursions  into  this  re- 
gion, and  he  knew  every  bush. 

Then  the  first  shot  fell  ahead.  With  a  quick 
swing:  we  were  out  of  our  saddles  and  had 
thrown  the  reins  over  our  horses'  necks.  Those 
who  were  to  hold  the  horses  seized  them.  Our 
company  was  only  ninety  strong,  and,  as  we 


176  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

left  ten  with  the  horses,  only  eighty  men  went 
into  the  thick  bush.  The  enemy  were  firing 
vigorously  and  letting  out  short,  wild  cries.  I 
saw  one  of  our  men  wounded.  He  stooped  and 
examined  a  wound  in  his  leg.  Still,  I  saw  no- 
thing of  the  enemy.  Then  just  for  a  second  I 
saw  a  piece  of  an  arm  in  a  grayish  brown  cord 
coat,  and  I  shot  at  it.  Then  I  lay  down  to  spy 
out  another  target.  Lively  firing  was  being 
exchanged.  When  one  of  us  thought  he  had 
hit  his  mark,  he  would  announce  it  with  a  loud 
voice :  "  That  one  won't  get  up  again !  I  got 
him  in  the  middle  of  the  breast !  "  The  third 
man  at  my  right,  who  was  lying  by  a  bush  in 
front  of  me,  twitched  convulsively.  A  derisive 
voice  on  the  other  side  shouted :  "  Had  enough, 
Dutchman?"  My  comrade  said,  in  a  quiet 
voice:  "  I  have  a  bullet  in  my  shoulder,"  and 
he  crawled  back  on  all  fours. 

I  could  hear  through  all  our  own  shooting 
that  we  were  getting  fired  upon  from  the  left. 
This  fire  now  became  heavier.  They  were 
coming  nearer.  In  close  ranks  they  came, 
creeping  and  shouting  and  screaming.  Two  of 


THE   FLIGHT  OF  A  NATION  177 

my  neighbors  were  not  shouting  any  more. 
We  crawled  back  once  or  twice  our  length. 
The  enemy  shouted  :  "  Look  out,  Dutchman, 
look  out !  "and  laughed  wildly.  Others  shouted : 
"  Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  "  The  bush  was  swarming 
with  men.  I  thought  they  would  now  break 
loose  upon  us  in  a  wild  storm  and  that  it  would 
be  all  up  with  us.  On  account  of  our  wounded 
men  I  was  fearfully  anxious  lest  we  should 
have  to  retreat.  I  was  firmly  resolved  if  the 
command  should  come,  to  shout  loudly :  "  Take 
along  the  wounded !  "  But  when  I  had  just 
decided  on  this  plan,  a  subordinate  officer 
came  up  with  several  men  and  cheered  us  on 
with  the  words,  "  Hold  your  position  !  I  am 
sending  aid  !  "  Soon  afterwards  I  heard  some- 
thing slipping  and  grating  behind  me,  and  a 
quiet,  soft  voice  said :  "  Move  a  little  to  the 
side."  The  nozzle  of  a  machine  gun  was 
pushed  forward  near  my  face,  and  immediately 
began  to  crackle  away.  The  grape  shot  hissed 
furiously  into  the  bushes  rattling  and  whizz- 
ing. How  good  it  sounded  !  How  surely  and 
quietly  I  shot !   "  Did  I  hit  ?    Did  you  see  ? 


178  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

Shoot,  man,  there !  there!  "  Cannon,  too,  upon 
a  slope  behind  us  were  now  thundering  over 
our  heads.  Then  it  grew  a  little  more  quiet  on 
the  other  side,  and  the  command  of  "  Forward, 
double  quick !  "  reached  us.  We  sprang  up 
and  plunged  forward,  but  a  horrible  volley  of 
grape  shot  was  poured  against  us  and  threw 
us  back  again. 

In  front  of  me  an  under  officer  had  got  a 
ball  in  the  body,  and  blood  was  streaming  from 
the  wound.  He  was  crouching  and  trying  to 
stem  the  flow  of  blood  with  a  handkerchief, 
and  was  calling  for  help.  He  was  a  light-com- 
plexioned,  fine-looking  man.  Just  then  the 
former  officer,  the  one  who  was  under  the 
official  ban,  came  up  from  the  side,  seized  the 
wounded  man  by  the  shoulders,  and  dragged 
him  back,  while  balls  were  falling  around  him 
and  the  barrel  of  his  gun  was  hit  so  that  it 
flew  rattling  to  one  side.  He  then  quietly  lay 
down  in  his  place  again.  On  the  other  side,  in 
the  bush,  they  were  shouting  in  wild  zeal  and 
shrieking  for  very  rage. 

We  did  not  advance.  I  don't  know  how 


THE   FLIGHT  OF  A   NATION  179 

long  we  lay  there  firing.  It  was  probably 
hours.  I  wondered  once  why  no  officer  was  to 
be  seen  with  us,  and  I  forgot  it  again.  Sweat 
ran  like  water  over  my  entire  body.  Not 
merely  my  tongue,  but  my  throat,  my  whole 
body,  cried  out  for  a  swallow  of  cool  water. 
At  one  side  a  hospital  aid  was  trying  to  bind 
a  rubber  bandage  around  the  bleeding  leg  of 
a  wounded  man  who  begged  him  in  South 
German  dialect :  "  Take  me  back  a  little,  can 
you  ? "  Then  the  aid  dragged  him  back 
panting. 

The  fire  from  the  other  side  was  getting 
weaker.  A  voice  commanded  us  :  "  Fire  more 
slowly."  From  the  other  side  we  heard  it 
jeeringly  mimicked  :  "  Fire  more  slowly."  A 
wounded  man  cried  aloud  for  water. 

We  lay  and  waited,  our  guns  pointed.  Word 
passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  :  "  The  captain 
is  dead  ;  the  first  lieutenant,  too  —  all  the  of- 
ficers —  and  almost  all  the  under  officers." 
Propping  my  gun  in  position,  I  took  my  field 
flask  with  my  left  hand  and  swallowed  the 
little  draught  I  had  saved  up  for  the  greatest 


180  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

emergency.  As  I  set  the  flask  aside,  I  thought 
that  perhaps  it  would  be  my  last  drink,  and  I 
thought  of  my  parents.  I  believed  that  the 
enemy  would  get  breath  and  then  make  an- 
other assault. 

But  that  did  not  happen.  A  lieutenant  who 
belonged  to  the  staff  came  stooping  along  our 
ranks.  When  he  was  behind  me,  he  knelt  there, 
touched  my  boot  lightly,  and  said ;  "  Go  to 
the  general  and  report  that  according  to  my 
reckoning  we  are  about  half  a  mile  distant 
from  the  last  water-holes." 

I  got  cautiously  up  on  my  knees,  and  then 
ducking  down  ran  back  to  the  road.  Near  an 
ant-hill,  which  was  certainly  three  yards  high, 
a  surgeon  and  a  hospital  aid  were  endeavoring 
to  save  a  man  from  bleeding  to  death  ;  but  I 
believe  they  came  too  late,  for  he  lay  like  dead 
on  his  dark  red  blanket.  Then  I  saw  the  bal- 
loon not  far  in  front  of  me  and  I  ran  across 
the  clearing  to  it. 

The  long  rows  of  oxen,  standing  in  har- 
ness in  front  of  their  wagons,  raised  their 
open  mouths  and  bellowed  hoarsely,  for  they 


THE   FLIGHT  OF  A  NATION  181 

scented  the  water-holes  and  panted  for  water. 
The  soldiers  at  the  wagons  and  horses  called 
to  me  with  dry  voices  :  "  Get  ahead,  you  fel- 
lows up  forward !  Are  we  coming  to  water 
soon?  Are  we  going  on?"  They  looked  at 
me  with  deep,  dry  eyes.  Those  who  held  the 
horses  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  the 
thirsty  creatures,  which  were  standing  crowded 
together,  swarmed  over  and  tortured  by  in- 
sects. The  sun  scorched  down.  A  thick,  hor- 
ribly dry,  dust-filled  air  lay  over  the  whole 
camp. 

The  surgeons  in  white  cloaks  stood  in  front 
of  the  hospital  wagon  around  a  table  on  which 
some  one  was  lying.  I  wondered  how  many 
were  lying  in  the  shade  of  the  wagon ;  five  or 
six  of  them  were  dead,  among  them  our  cap- 
tain. A  wounded  officer,  I  think  it  was  a  lieu- 
tenant, was  giving  water  with  his  well  hand 
to  the  severely  wounded ;  his  other  arm  was 
bleeding  badly. 

At  the  general's  wagon  a  man  was  stand- 
ing by  the  heliograph.  The  general  was  near 
by  with  officers  and  orderlies  around  him,  all 


182  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

of  them  on  foot.  I  reported  and  heard  some 
one  say :  "  The  animals  can't  hold  out  any 
longer  and  the  men  are  simply  dying  of  thirst." 
The  next  moment,  just  as  I  had  turned  to  run 
to  the  front,  there  came  from  behind  from  two 
or  three  directions  wild  shouting  and  volleys 
from  the  bush. 

The  outposts,  who  were  lying  and  kneeling 
on  the  ground  all  around,  moved  in  immedi- 
ately. The  voice  of  an  officer  rang  out  sharp 
and  clear :  "  Disperse  and  charge  in  knots." 
I  ran,  and  saw  as  I  ran  that  a  hailstorm  of 
bullets  was  riddling  the  hospital  wagon,  that 
the  doctors  were  seizing  their  guns,  and  that 
one  of  them  was  wounded.  I  even  heard  one 
say :  "  We  '11  take  off  our  white  cloaks,  though." 
Then  I  lay  down  by  a  bush  and  shot  at  the 
enemy,  who  with  wild  shouts  continued  their  on- 
set through  the  bushes.  Secretaries,  orderlies, 
drivers,  guard,  and  officers  all  rushed  forward, 
lay  down  near  one  another,  and  protected  their 
skins.  The  artillery  turned  while  firing  and 
shot  away  over  us.  Excited  by  my  run  and 
the  sudden  attack,  I  began  a  violent,  rapid  fire. 


THE  FLIGHT  OF  A  NATION  183 

A  voice  near  me  said :  "  Shoot  more  calmly." 
I  did  fire  more  calmly,  thinking,  "  Who  said 
that  ?  "  and  as  I  seized  ~ny  cartridge-belt  and 
looked  to  the  side,  there  lay  the  general  two 
men  from  me,  shooting  coolly  as  becomes  an 
old  soldier.  The  enemy  were  pressing  on  in 
close  ranks  through  the  bush,  shouting  and 
firing.  But  we  lay  quietly  and  shot  well.  Then 
it  got  more  quiet.  The  officers  stood  up  and 
returned  to  the  centre  of  the  camp  again.  Im- 
mediately after  that  came  the  order  that  the 
whole  camp  should  advance  two  hundred 
yards.  In  running  by  I  saw  them  lifting  the 
dead  and  wounded  into  wagons.  Then  I  ran 
forward  again  to  my  place  in  the  line  of  de- 
fense. 

Now  as  I  lay  there  I  felt  how  very  parched 
I  was.  Begging  and  complaining  and  teasing 
for  water  went  through  the  ranks.  From  be- 
hind we  heard  the  hoarse  lowing  of  the  thirsty 
oxen.  I  believe  that  at  this  time,  four  in  the 
afternoon,  there  was  not  a  drop  of  water  in 
the  whole  camp  except  for  the  wounded. 

Then  everything  was  moved  to  the  front,  — 


184  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

soldiers,  artillery,  and  machine  guns.  A  terrific 
fire  rattled  against  the  enemy,  who  were  grow- 
ing weary.  Then  word  passed  from  man  to 
man :  "  We  are  going  to  charge."  Now  the 
battle-cry  told.  I  shall  never  forget  it.  With 
fierce  yells,  with  distorted  faces,  with  dry  and 
burning  eyes,  we  sprang  to  our  feet  and  hurled 
ourselves  forward.  The  enemy  leaped,  fired, 
and  dispersed  with  loud  outcries.  We  ran  with- 
out interference,  shouting,  cursing,  and  shoot- 
ing, to  the  good-sized  clearing  where  the 
ardently  desired  water-holes  were,  and  across 
it  to  the  further  edge,  where  the  bush  began 
again. 

The  entire  camp  —  the  heavy  wagons  with 
their  long  teams  of  oxen ;  the  hundreds  of 
horses;  the  hospital  wagons  with  the  surgeons, 
the  dead  and  the  wounded  ;  the  headquarters, 
everything  —  followed  in  a  rush  and  encamped 
in  the  clearing.  But  we  lay  around  it  at  the 
edge  of  the  bush  to  keep  back  the  enemy,  who 
now  here  and  now  there  would  break  through 
the  thick  bushes  in  wild,  loudly  shouting  par- 


THE  FLIGHT  OF  A  NATION  185 

ties.  Behind  us  our  men  were  now  climbing 
down  with  army  kettles  into  the  water-holes, 
which  were  ten  yards  deep,  and  were  filling 
buckets  let  down  on  reins  and  were  beginning 
to  water  man  and  beast.  When  about  ten  ani- 
mals had  had  a  little,  the  hole  was  empty. 
There  were  about  ten  or  twelve  holes  at  this 
place. 

The  sun  went  down.  Some  of  us  slipped 
out,  cut  brush  with  our  side-arms,  and  made 
a  stockade  in  front  of  us.  The  artillerymen 
set  up  the  cannon  and  machine  guns  behind 
us  and  knelt  near  them.  Some  of  the  soldiers 
were  detailed  to  creep  from  man  to  man  and 
give  each  a  little  water.  In  the  camp  further 
back  of  us,  the  restlessly  crowding  animals 
were  being  watered  in  the  dark.  By  the  hos- 
pital wagons  nurses  were  going  about,  lanterns 
in  their  hands,  bending  over  each  patient. 
Meanwhile  the  enemy  kept  up  their  firing, 
which  continually  flashed  out  of  the  dark  bush 
all  around  the  camp.  Not  until  about  mid- 
night did  it  become  more  quiet.  We  passed  a 


186  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

little  zwieback  from  hand  to  hand.  Then  com- 
plete darkness  settled  upon  us  and  the  shooting 
at  last  ceased. 

What  plan  had  the  enemy  in  mind  ?  Here 
we  lay  in  the  dark  night,  four  hundred  men, 
worn  out,  and  half  dead  with  thirst ;  and  in 
front  of  us  and  all  around  us  a  savage,  furious 
people  numbering  sixty  thousand.  We  knew 
and  heard  nothing  of  the  other  German  divi- 
sions. Perhaps  they  had  been  slaughtered  and 
the  sixty  thousand  were  now  collecting  them- 
selves to  fall  upon  us.  Through  the  quiet 
night  we  heard  in  the  distance  the  lowing  of 
enormous  herds  of  thirsty  cattle  and  a  dull 
confused  sound  like  the  movement  of  a  whole 
people.  To  the  east  there  was  a  gigantic  glow 
of  fire.  I  lay  stretched  at  full  length  with  my 
gun  ready,  and  cheered  my  utterly  exhausted 
comrades  to  keep  awake. 

Thus  morning  gradually  came  on.  Then 
some  scouts  went  out  cautiously  and  we  learned 
to  our  great  amazement  that  the  enemy  had 
withdrawn,  and  indeed  in  wild  flight.  We 
should  have  liked  to  follow  them  up,  but  we 


THE   FLIGHT  OF   A  NATION  187 

had  no  news  yet  from  the  other  divisions. 
Moreover,  both  men  and  beasts  had  reached 
the  limit  of  their  strength.  So  we  rested  on 
that  day,  ate  a  little  poor  food,  and  cleansed 
and  repaired  our  guns  and  other  equipment ; 
for  we  looked  like  people  who  had  battered 
and  bruised  and  soiled  themselves  in  an  attack 
of  frenzy.  The  madness  still  showed  in  our 
frowning  brows  and  in  our  eyes.  Our  dead 
lay  in  the  midst  of  us  in  the  shade  of  a  tree. 

We  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  keep  our 
animals  from  dying.  We  could  not  give  them 
anywhere  near  enough  water  to  satisfy  them, 
and  we  could  not  give  them  any  fodder  at  all, 
because  the  entire  region  had  been  eaten  as 
bare  by  the  enemy's  cattle  as  if  rats  and 
mice  had  gnawed  it  clean.  The  men  and  the 
animals  had  even  grubbed  into  the  earth  in 
search  of  roots.  It  was  a  miserable  day.  The 
sun  glared  down,  and  an  odor  of  old  manure 
filled  the  whole  land  to  suffocation. 

At  noon  there  came  at  last  some  news  from 
the  other  divisions.  Two  reported  that  they 
had  beaten  the  enemy,  the  third  that  it  had 


188  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

saved  itself  with  great  difficulty  and  distress. 
The  enemy  had  fled  to  the  east  with  their 
whole  enormous  mass, — women,  children,  and 
herds. 

Toward  evening  we  buried  our  dead  under 
the  tree. 


XV 

A  DRY  AND  THIRSTY  LAND 

The  next  morning  we  ventured  to  pursue  the 
enemy.  We  left  our  unmounted  men  with  the 
sick  and  wounded  in  camp  and  set  out  towards 
the  east,  two  hundred  horsemen  in  number. 
But  our  horses  were  weak,  half-starved,  or 
sick,  and  the  region  into  which  we  were  ad- 
vancing was  a  waterless  land  and  little  ex- 
plored. The  ground  was  trodden  down  into  a 
floor  for  a  width  of  about  a  hundred  yards ; 
for  in  such  a  broad,  thickly  crowded  horde  had 
the  enemy  and  their  herds  of  cattle  stormed 
along.  In  the  path  of  their  flight  lay  blan- 
kets, skins,  ostrich  feathers,  household  utensils, 
women's  ornaments,  cattle,  and  men  dead  and 
dying  and  staring  blankly.  A  shocking  smell 
of  old  manure  and  of  decaying  bodies  filled 
the  hot,  still  air  oppressively. 

The  further  we  went  in  the  burning  sun, 


190  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

the  more  disheartening  became  our  journey. 
How  deeply  the  wild,  proud,  sorrowful  people 
had  humbled  themselves  in  the  terror  of  death ! 
Wherever  I  turned  my  eyes  lay  their  goods  in 
quantities :  oxen  and  horses,  goats  and  dogs, 
blankets  and  skins.  And  there  lay  the  wounded 
and  the  old,  women  and  children.  A  number  of 
babies  lay  helplessly  languishing  by  mothers 
whose  breasts  hung  down  long  and  flabby. 
Others  were  lying  alone,  still  living,  with  eyes 
and  noses  full  of  flies.  Somebody  sent  out  our 
black  drivers  and  I  think  they  helped  them  to 
die.  All  this  life  lay  scattered  there,  both  man 
and  beast,  broken  in  the  knees,  helpless,  still 
in  agony  or  already  motionless ;  it  looked  as 
if  it  had  all  been  thrown  down  out  of  the  air. 
At  noon  we  halted  by  water-holes  which 
were  filled  to  the  very  brim  with  corpses.  We 
pulled  them  out  by  means  of  the  ox-teams 
from  the  fieldpieces,  but  there  was  only  a  little 
stinking,  bloody  water  in  the  depths.  We  tried 
to  dig  deeper,  but  no  water  came.  There  was 
no  pasturage,  either.  The  sun  blazed  down  so 
hot  on  the  sand  that  we  could  not  even  lie 


A   DRY  AND   THIRSTY   LAND         191 

down.  On  our  thirsting,  starving  horses,  we 
thirsting;  and  starving  men  rode  on.  At  some 
distance  crouched  a  crowd  of  old  women  who 
stared  in  apathy  in  front  of  them.  Here  and 
there  were  oxen,  bellowing.  In  the  last  frenzy 
of  despair  man  and  beast  will  plunge  madly  into 
the  bush,  somewhere,  anywhere  to  find  water, 
and  in  the  bush  they  will  die  of  thirst. 

We  rode  on  till  evening.  Then  we  expected 
to  reach  a  dry  river  bed  and  find  water  near 
by.  Herds  of  beeves,  bellowing  hoarsely  and 
with  wild,  gleaming  eyes,  came  towards  us  in 
a  cloud  of  dust.  That  was  a  bad  sign  of  the 
region  into  which  we  were  riding.  "  Do  you 
think  you  are  wiser  than  the  animals?  Turn 
back,  turn  back !  "  "  No,  we  know  better.  At 
seven  we  shall  reach  the  enemy,  and  water  and 
pasture."  We  kept  on.  Our  ranks  became 
straggling.  We  rode  each  one  of  us  as  best  he 
could.  There  was  nothing  to  be  seen  of  the 
enemy,  but  Wittboys  who  had  ridden  on  ahead 
came  back  and  reported  that  their  camp  was 
not  far  off. 

Toward  evening,  when  I  was  ordered  to  ride 


192  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

in  the  bush  with  four  men  as  a  flank  protec- 
tion, —  for  we  were  shot  at  now  and  then,  — 
we  chanced  to  see  a  Cape  wagon  behind  some 
high  bushes,  and  we  heard  human  voices.  Dis- 
mounting, we  sneaked  up  and  discovered  six 
of  the  enemy  sitting  in  animated  conversation 
around  a  little  camp-fire.  I  indicated,  by  signs, 
at  which  one  of  them  each  of  us  was  to 
shoot.  Four  lay  still  immediately ;  one  escaped; 
the  sixth  stood  half  erect,  severely  wounded. 
I  sprang  forward  swinging  my  club ;  he  looked 
at  me  indifferently.  I  wiped  my  club  clean  in 
the  sand  and  threw  the  weapon  on  its  strap 
over  my  shoulder,  but  I  did  not  like  to  touch 
it  all  that  day. 

The  ground  was  everywhere  bare,  yellowish 
brown  and  stony ;  the  sparse  grass  had  been 
eaten,  burned,  or  trodden  down.  Dead  cattle 
lay  about  everywhere.  The  hoarse  bellowing 
of  dying  oxen  quavered  horribly  through  the 
air.  The  bush  got  thinner,  often  opening  into 
a  great  clearing. 

Entirely  forsaken  in  the  scorching  sun  lay  a 
two-year-old  child.  When  it  caught  sight  of  us, 


A  DRY  AND  THIRSTY   LAND         193 

it  sat  up  straight  and  stared  at  us.  I  got  down 
from  my  horse,  picked  the  child  up  and  carried 
it  back  where  there  was  a  deserted  fireplace 
near  a  bush.  It  found  at  once  the  remainder  of 
a  root  or  a  bone,  and  began  to  eat.  It  did  not 
cry ;  it  did  not  show  fear,  either ;  it  was  entirely 
indifferent.  I  believe  it  had  grown  there  in  the 
bush  without  human  help. 

The  hot  day  was  drawing  to  a  close.  Our 
horses  were  very  tired.  We  had  trouble  to  get 
the  creatures  up  again  when  they  stumbled. 
Some  of  us  dismounted,  and  by  evening  many 
were  leading  their  horses.  Then  the  animals 
fell,  and  their  riders  threw  the  saddles  into  the 
wagons  and  continued  on  foot.  It  grew  dark ; 
still  nothing  was  to  be  seen  of  the  enemy. 
Then  at  last  we  reached  the  eagerly  longed-for 
water-holes.  There  they  were,  filled  to  the  very 
top  with  dead  oxen.  No  water  was  there ;  no 
trace  of  fodder.  Then  we  bit  our  lips  and  stared 
ahead  of  us,  for  we  knew  now  that  we  must  go 
back  and  that  many  more  horses  would  fall. 
We  might  be  happy  indeed  if  we  brought  all 
our  men  back  to  the  camp  alive. 


194  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

We  stayed  here  three  or  four  hours  in  the 
night.  I  tried  to  get  a  little  water  by  forcing 
my  way  down  between  the  dead  cattle  and  oxen, 
and  after  an  hour  came  back  with  half  a  kettle- 
f  ul  of  the  vile  liquid.  We  made  coffee  with  it, 
however,  and  drank  it.  The  others  in  the  mean 
time  had  got  a  great  rough  nest  of  weaver  birds 
from  a  tree  and  had  laid  it  before  the  horses ; 
we  gathered  old  cow-dung,  too,  and  cut  branches 
from  the  bushes  and  offered  them  those  after 
removing  the  thorns.  I  stayed  an  hour  by  my 
horse,  rubbing  him  with  my  hand  and  being 
friendly  with  him. 

After  midnight  we  started  on  our  return 
journey.  At  first,  when  a  horse  fell  the  rider 
would  take  the  saddle  on  his  back  and  trudge 
in  his  heavy  boots  through  the  sand,  but  soon 
the  saddles  lay  scattered  all  along.  We  others 
dismounted  and  led  our  horses ;  it  was  a  long, 
weary  procession.  Right  under  my  feet  a  com- 
rade staggered  and  fell;  four  of  us  lifted  him 
up,  —  he  was  heavy  as  lead.  More  horses  were 
falling  all  the  time.  Soon  a  noble  beast  was 
left  lying  every  half-mile.    Now  and  then  a 


A   DRY  AND  THIRSTY  LAND         195 

shot  cracked,  but  we  paid  no  attention.  The 
older  carcasses  were  distended ;  a  terrific  atmo- 
sphere exhaled  from  the  broad  field  of  death. 
We  set  one  foot  before  the  other  in  silence. 
Our  mouths  were  hot ;  the  suffocating,  vile- 
smelling  air  passed  down  our  throats  like  whips 
and  spurs.  One  man  in  front  of  me  began  to 
talk  wildly,  saying  he  wanted  to  kill  all  the 
enemy  and  drink  himself  full  of  their  blood. 
We  put  him  on  a  horse  and  two  men  held  him. 
I  felt  no  hunger,  —  loathing  drove  away  hun- 
ger, —  but  I  was  tortured  by  thirst,  so  that  I 
longed  to  drink  the  blood  which  I  saw  in  the 
veins  of  the  fallen  animals. 

Morning  came  and  with  it  the  burning  sun. 
We  came  to  water-holes,  again  full  of  dead 
cattle.  Nevertheless,  we  threw  ourselves  down 
and  tried  to  get  water  out  of  the  bottom,  and 
we  filled  a  cover  with  the  repulsive  stuff  and 
drank  in  turn.  When  my  turn  came  and  I  was 
already  raising  the  cover  to  my  mouth,  my 
head  was  pushed  gently  aside.  As  I  looked 
around  in  amazement,  my  horse  stuck  his  nose 
into  the  cover  and  drank.    I  forced  myself  to 


196  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

preserve  my  self-control  and  thought :  "  Do 
you  want  to  drink  death  in  spilt  blood?  Better 
die  of  thirst."  And  I  let  him  have  it  and  stood 
up,  no  longer  having  any  hope  of  holding  out 
till  the  evening  of  that  terrible  day.  Our  line 
got  longer  and  longer. 

It  is  wonderful  how  much  a  human  being 
can  endure.  I  walked  four  hours  more  in  the 
burning  sun.  I  know  little  or  nothing  of  those 
hours ;  I  have  only  a  recollection  of  having 
passed  through  a  flaming  fire.  My  horse  fell 
and  lay  there. 

Towards  evening,  when  we  were  still  five 
miles  distant  from  the  camp,  I  was  ordered  to 
mount  another  horse  and  try  to  see  if  I  could 
reach  there  in  order  that  they  might  send  out 
fresh  oxen  to  meet  us,  for  our  teams  refused 
to  go  on.  I  climbed  into  the  saddle  and  actually 
got  the  East  Prussian  horse  into  a  slow,  heavy 
trot.  So  I  rode  alone  along  the  path  of  death. 

When  I  had  ridden  awhile,  a  thick,  dark 
cloud,  like  a  thunder-cloud,  came  up  from  the 
south.  I  rejoiced  at  the  sight  and  watched 
greedily  as  it  grew  broader  and  broader  and 


A  DRY  AND  THIRSTY  LAND         197 

broader;  I  almost  believed  I  could  taste  the 
rain  already.  Then  it  struck  me  that  it  hung 
very  low  and  approached  very  rapidly,  exactly 
as  if  it  were  flying.  And  now  it  was  upon  me. 
Whirring  and  humming,  a  numberless  swarm 
of  big  grasshoppers  buzzed  thick  about  me. 
Their  shining,  silver  wings,  which  were  as  long 
as  my  finger,  glittered  with  marvelous  beauty 
in  the  setting  sun.  They  settled  in  countless 
numbers  about  me  on  the  bush.  I  shook  myself 
in  horror  of  this  wonderful,  fearfully  strange 
land,  and  passed  through  them.  I  reached 
camp  and  reported ;  I  drank,  dropped  down, 
and  slept. 


XVI 

THE  LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE 

During  the  four  days  that  we  still  remained 
in  this  camp,  we  had  the  flesh  of  the  oxen 
which  had  given  out  and  rice  for  our  three 
meals  a  day ;  there  was  no  other  food.  There 
was,  to  be  sure,  water  enough  for  the  time 
being ;  but  as  the  hordes  of  the  enemy  with 
their  great  herds  of  cattle  had  lived  for  weeks 
around  these  same  water-holes,  the  water  had 
become  badly  polluted.  Thus  it  happened  that 
in  a  few  days  every  tenth  man  fell  sick  of 
dysentery.  I  kept  fairly  well,  but  once,  when 
searching  under  a  bush  for  a  little  grass  for 
my  half-starved  horse,  I  got  wounded  by  a 
thorn  in  my  hand,  which  swelled  up  and  looked 
bad  for  some  days.  Apparently  the  whole  place 
was  infected,  —  the  water,  the  ground,  the  bush, 
and  the  air. 

Then  came  the  news  that  the  enemy,  after 


THE  LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE  199 

overcoming  and  passing  the  great  stretch  of 
waterless  country,  where  thousands  of  them 
had  perished,  were  situated  far  to  the  east  on 
the  further  side  of  the  sand  field  by  some 
miserable  water-holes.  The  general  decided  to 
follow  them  thither,  to  attack  them  and  force 
them  to  go  northward  into  thirst  and  death, 
so  that  the  colony  would  be  left  in  peace  and 
quiet  for  all  time. 

We  now  advanced  into  broad  steppes  to  the 
east,  marching,  as  was  our  usual  method,  with 
an  immense  baggage  train  of  ox-teams,  Cape 
wagons,  carts,  and  drivers,  which  carried  along 
all  our  means  of  supporting  life  in  the  desert. 
Of  these  steppes,  where  no  white  man  before 
us  had  ever  trod,  little  was  known  except  that 
they  were  very  poorly  supplied  with  water.  On 
the  way  a  large  supply  of  fresh  horses  reached 
us,  so  we  were  all  mounted  again.  It  was  the 
fourth  horse  I  had  ridden,  and  the  lieutenant, 
who  had  been  on  many  and  long  reconnoitring 
expeditions,  was  mounting  his  sixth.  We  were 
four  hundred  men  in  our  division. 

The  sand  was  deep  and  the  sun  was  scorch- 


200  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

ing.  At  night,  lying  on  the  ground,  our  heads 
pillowed  on  our  hats  or  saddles,  we  got  a 
little  sleep.  The  stars  were  clear,  and  an  icy 
wind  blew.  The  food  was  monotonous  and 
meagre.  Many  had  drunk  the  seeds  of  typhoid 
fever  in  the  infected  water,  and  the  disease 
now  broke  out.  The  sick  men  had  to  ride  back 
all  day  on  the  floors  of  the  hard,  jolting  wag- 
ons until  they  came  to  a  field  hospital,  where 
they  would  lie  for  weeks  on  miserable  grass 
beds  without  proper  food  to  strengthen  them, 
without  drink  to  cool  their  fever,  and  without 
cleanliness.  The  further  on  we  penetrated  into 
the  steppes,  the  more  troublesome  became  the 
big  flies  which  always  come  at  this  time  of 
year,  and  which  were  so  rapacious  that  we  had 
to  pick  them  out  of  our  eyes  and  the  corners 
of  our  mouths  with  our  fingers.  That  they  were 
always  floating  in  our  soup  had  long  since 
ceased  to  bother  us.  In  the  second  or  third 
week  the  new  horses  began  to  get  exhausted. 
Soon  one,  and  then  another,  was  lying  by  the 
way.  The  oxen,  from  long  marches  and  poor 
fodder,  were  getting  more  and  more  flabby. 


THE   LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE  201 

Our  clothes,  boots,  saddles,  and  harness  were 
again  torn  and  dirty.  We  looked  as  if  we  had 
rolled  in  the  dust. 

When  we  had  marched  three  weeks  and  had 
reached  the  region  where  the  enemy  were  sup- 
posed to  be,  it  appeared  that  they  had  gone 
still  further  east  and  were  stopping  at  the  very 
last  of  the  wretched  water-holes.  So  we  had  to 
go  still  further.  At  night  we  would  see  here 
and  there  to  the  east  of  us  the  burning  grass 
which  they  had  set  on  fire,  and  the  fires  of  the 
single  tribes  which  had  detached  themselves 
from  the  main  body  and  were  trying  to  break 
through  to  the  west,  to  their  old  home,  in  order 
to  escape  a  cruel  death  from  thirst.  Scouting 
parties  were  sent  out  to  prevent  their  getting 
through,  so  that  they  should  not  keep  up  an 
endless  petty  warfare  with  us  in  their  native 
district. 

At  last,  in  the  fourth  week,  I  again  left  the 
company.  I  rode  with  a  party  of  twenty  men, 
led  by  a  lieutenant,  out  of  the  night  camp  to 
the  north  in  order  to  get  information  about 
this  region,  of  which  there  was  no  map,  and 


202  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

more  especially  to  find  some  good  water. 
There  were  in  the  vicinity,  to  be  sure,  many 
water-holes;  but  two  out  of  three  would  be 
found  dried  up  and  the  third  would  contain 
miserably  little  water. 

We  set  out  after  midnight  and  rode  till 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Then  we  unsad- 
dled to  rest.  But  we  had  not  been  lying  long 
in  the  shadow  of  some  bushes  when  we  noticed 
an  odor  of  something  burning,  which  grew 
rapidly  stronger,  so  that  we  thought  it  right, 
in  spite  of  our  indifference,  to  investigate 
the  cause.  Just  then  our  outposts  came  run- 
ning up  and  said  that  the  wind  was  driving 
a  mighty  grass  fire  toward  us.  Cursing  the 
enemy,  we  got  up  and  saddled  in  haste,  for 
heavy  smoke  and  fire  which  gleamed  through 
it  were  coming  toward  us  in  a  broad  front.  As 
our  horses  were  getting  restless  and  were  rear- 
ing and  plunging  into  one  another,  we  walked 
as  fast  as  we  could,  leading  them  without  any 
concerted  action  toward  a  depression  in  the 
cleared  ground.  We  had  just  reached  it  and 
were  beginning  to  cut  and  tear  up  the  grass 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE  203 

for  a  little  space,  when  the  flames  came  up 
like  a  tribe  of  little  glowing  children  who 
were  dancing  forward  holding  each  other's 
hands.  Here  and  there  one  would  spring  up 
higher  than  the  rest  and  immediately  duck 
down  again.  They  roared  as  they  crept  along, 
blowing  a  dry,  hot  breath  before  them  which 
they  drove  into  our  mouths  and  eyes.  Some 
of  us  had  poured  some  of  the  cold  coffee  which 
we  had  in  our  water-sacks  on  our  handker- 
chiefs, others  crouched  down  behind  their 
horses,  and  others  pressed  their  faces  against 
the  moist  water-sacks.  Then  there  was  a  mo- 
ment of  great  confusion  :  the  horses  reared 
wildly ;  our  breath  stopped ;  a  comrade  stum- 
bled and  was  pulled  up  again  —  then  it  was 
past.  We  looked  like  chimney-sweeps ;  and 
we  cursed  and  shook  our  heads  and  looked  at 
one  another;  and  at  last  we  had  to  laugh  over 
the  adventure.  But  I  especially  laughed  to 
myself  at  the  thought  of  that  rascal  from 
Holstein  who  had  sometimes,  as  he  said,  been 
shoved  by  his  mother  into  the  oven.  I  would 
not  have  begrudged  him  this  adventure. 


204  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

In  the  evening  we  reached  some  dried-up 
water-holes,  which  we  dug  somewhat  deeper 
and  by  which  we  slept  that  night,  laying  our 
saddles  in  a  circle  and  each  man  lying  behind 
his  own.  The  horses  were  enclosed  in  a  pretty 
good  grazing-place  by  thorn  branches  which 
had  been  hastily  cut  and  gathered  together. 
The  lieutenant  and  the  officer  who  had  lost  his 
commission  took  turns  watching  in  the  circle 
of  sleeping  soldiers.  Two  guards,  who  were 
relieved  every  hour,  walked  outside  the  circle, 
and  one  man  stood  with  the  horses. 

When  it  came  my  turn  to  watch  and  I  went 
outside,  the  night  -was  so  bitter  cold  that  I 
made  all  sorts  of  motions  to  keep  a  little 
warmth  in  my  body.  I  even  climbed  twice  on 
a  low,  tumble-down  anthill  and  watched  the 
fires  which  here  and  there  in  the  distance 
shone  through  the  darkness.  While  I  was  thus 
gazing,  however,  I  was  struck  by  the  fact  that 
one  fire  was  burning  not  far  from  us  in  the 
thick  bush.  I  remembered  it  when  I  was  re- 
lieved, and  told  the  lieutenant,  who  was  sitting 
on  the  ground  by  our  burned-out  fire. 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE         205 

Before  dawn  we  got  up,  discovered  the  exact 
place  in  the  hush,  and  stealthily  surrounded  it. 
Five  men  and  eight  or  ten  women  and  children, 
all  in  rags,  were  squatting  benumbed  about 
their  dismal  little  fire.  Telling  them  with 
threats  not  to  move,  we  looked  through  the 
bundles  which  were  lying  near  them  and  found 
two  guns  and  some  underclothing,  probably 
stolen  from  our  dead.  One  of  the  men  was 
wearing  a  German  tunic  which  bore  the  name 
of  one  of  our  officers  who  had  been  killed. 
We  then  led  the  men  away  to  one  side  and 
shot  them.  The  women  and  children,  who 
looked  pitiably  starved,  we  hunted  into  the 
bush. 

When  we  got  back  to  the  place  where  we 
had  spent  the  night,  so  much  water  had  trickled 
into  the  holes  which  we  had  deepened  that  we 
could  give  a  whole  cook-pan  full  to  every 
horse  and  put  a  little  in  our  water-sacks  be- 
sides. The  water  was  not  so  bad  as  regards 
taste,  but,  as  was  almost  everywhere  the  case 
in  that  sandy  soil,  it  contained  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  Glaubersaltz  and  had,  there- 


206  PETER  MOOR'S   JOURNEY 

fore,  what  the  lieutenant  called  a  decidedly 
laxative  effect. 

All  that  day,  to  the  great  vexation  of  the 
lieutenant,  we  found  no  good  water-place,  but 
we  continually  rejoiced  to  be  out  of  the  com- 
pany and  traveling  alone  through  the  broad, 
boundless  country.  While  we  were  riding,  the 
lieutenant  described  to  us  his  plan  of  hunting 
up  our  nearest  little  post,  which  had  already 
been  camping  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  for 
several  weeks  in  order  to  prevent  the  return  of 
the  hostile  tribes  to  their  homes.  At  this  post 
he  was  going  to  make  inquiries.  But  towards 
evening,  before,  according  to  our  information, 
we  could  possibly  have  arrived  at  that  post, 
the  bushes  began  to  be  more  luxuriant  and  the 
grass  softer;  some  tall  trees  rose  from  the 
bush  and  some  fowl  flew  up.  In  short,  we  no- 
ticed that  we  were  coming  to  water,  and,  feel- 
ing very  happy  and  proud  at  our  cleverness  in 
discovery,  we  put  our  horses  into  a  trot.  And, 
behold,  there  at  the  side  of  a  clearing  was 
truly  a  little  pond,  or  rather  puddle,  of  clear 
water.  We  came  up,  dismounted,  and  some  were 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE         207 

already  kneeling  and  drinking  and  the  horses 
were  standing  knee-deep  in  the  water  near  us 
when  just  then  a  strange  soldier  came  run- 
ning towards  us  down  a  hill,  shouting :  "  For 
Heaven's  sake,  don't  drink  that  water  !  Don't 
drink!  There's  typhoid  fever  in  it!"  We 
stopped  and  shrugged  our  shoulders.  Some  of 
the  men  were  serious,  some  laughed  indiffer- 
ently. Above,  on  the  slope,  was  a  newly  estab- 
lished army  hospital  which  we  had  not  known 
of-  We  spent  the  night  near  by,  apart  from 
the  typhoid  patients  and  the  miserable  pond, 
however.  But  with  this  water,  as  appeared 
after  some  weeks,  six  of  us  had  drunk  in 
typhoid  fever  and  two  of  us  death. 

The  next  morning  we  made  a  very  early 
start,  and  at  about  ten  o'clock  found  the  post 
we  were  in  search  of.  Fifteen  soldiers  were 
living  in  a  cleared  space,  in  a  little  camp  which 
they  had  fortified  with  a  barricade  of  thorn- 
bush.  Inside  this  barricade  they  had  built  two 
huts  of  branches  and  had  made  a  big  cooking- 
hole.  Outside,  at  some  distance,  were  their 
horses,  and  cattle,  namely,  four  cows,  which 


208  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

they  had  seized  and  from  which  they  got 
milk.  To  do  the  milking  and  washing  and 
to  gather  wood  they  had  captured  an  oldish 
bush- woman. 

The  lieutenant  in  command  of  the  post  was 
a  thickset  man  with  reddish  hair,  on  account 
of  which  and  because  he  was  so  untiringly  ac- 
tive and  ingenious  in  spying  out  and  holding 
up  wandering  hostile  bands,  he  had  won  the 
name  of  "The  Red  Freebooter."  He  was  just 
returning  from  such  an  expedition.  If  his 
mother,  the  wife  of  a  burgomaster,  could  have 
seen  him,  she  would  have  been  horrified.  His 
head  was  shaved  as  bald  as  a  rat,  his  beard 
was  stubbly,  his  coat  filthy,  his  trousers  badly 
torn,  and  his  boots  trodden  down.  Half  a  dozen 
pearl  fowl,  which  he  had  shot  on  the  way  back, 
hung  by  a  strap  of  fresh  ox-hide  over  his  shoul- 
der, and  when  he  afterwards  opened  his  coat 
a  little  I  observed  that  on  that  day  at  least  he 
was  wearing  no  shirt.  It  was  probably  in  the 
wringing  hands  of  the  spindle-legged  bush- 
woman.  He  was  very  glad  to  see  us,  and,  mak- 
ing fun  of  himself,  told  us  about  his  present 


THE   LIMIT   OF   ENDURANCE         209 

importance  and  his  efficiency.  Then  he  invited 
us  to  dinner. 

It  was  always  the  same  when  we  met  com- 
rades from  another  division.  We  always  talked 
on  three  subjects :  first,  the  enemy ;  second, 
the  events  in  the  army  ;  and,  third,  the  various 
ways  of  cooking.  After  topics  first  and  second 
had  been  sufficiently  discussed,  our  host,  with 
an  important  manner,  led  us  to  a  place  in  the 
corner  of  the  camp  where  a  little  thin  smoke 
was  issuing  out  of  the  ground.  He  took  a 
piece  of  wood  and  carefully  pushed  aside  the 
earth.  Then  appeared  to  our  view  two  cooking- 
pans  packed  around  with  dry  cow-dung  which 
was  smouldering  a  little.  Two  men  came  up 
and  with  great  skill  lifted  from  the  hole  the 
pans,  which,  the  lieutenant  informed  us,  had 
been  standing  in  this  heat  for  sixteen  hours. 
Then  he  took  off  the  cover  and  with  great 
pride  invited  us  to  smell  of  the  contents  of  the 
pans.  It  was  a  fine  soup  and  the  meat  was 
well  cooked,  too.  We  had  to  praise  it  highly 
and  we  also  liked  it,  but  we  were  somewhat 
depressed  that  they  and  not  we  had  made  this 
great  discovery. 


210  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

While  we  were  sitting  around,  each  one  with 
his  pan-cover  in  his  hand,  the  red  lieutenant 
gave  us  another  surprise  in  the  shape  of  a 
rather  recent  number  of  a  South  African  news- 
paper. As  it  had  already  passed  from  hand  to 
hand  in  this  camp,  it  had  become  somewhat 
dirty  and  ragged.  Still  our  lieutenant  clutched 
it  eagerly,  spread  it  out,  and  looked,  whether 
by  chance  or  not,  at  the  place  where  the  new 
decorations  are  announced.  Then  looking  up 
suddenly  at  the  reduced  officer,  who  was  sit- 
ting as  usual  a  little  apart  from  us  and  staring 
at  the  ground  in  front  of  him,  he  called  him 
by  name  and  said  :  "  Comrade,  look  here  !  " 
The  man  started  out  of  his  reverie  and  came 
and  knelt  down  behind  the  lieutenant,  looking 
at  the  place  which  the  latter  pointed  out.  Then 
he  began  to  breathe  short  and  hard.  The  lieu- 
tenant looked  at  us  and  said  softly :  "  He  has 
just  been  suggested  for  decoration."  At  that 
the  ex-officer  could  no  longer  hold  back  the 
violent  sobs  which  he  had  been  repressing. 
He  wept,  and  we  pressed  around  him  and 
grasped  his  hand,  our  own  eyes  wet.  Then  he 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE         211 

wrote  a  post-card  to  his  wife  and  children  and 
we  had  to  sign  our  names :  a  linen-weaver  from 
Upper  Schleswig,  a  chimney-sweep  from  Ber- 
lin, a  farm  hand  from  Oldenburg,  a  Bavarian 
count,  a  locksmith's  apprentice  from  Holstein, 
and  others. 

We  were  all  in  a  state  of  excitement  over 
this  occurrence  when  a  guard  came  in  from 
the  cattle  and  reported :  "  Herr  Lieutenant, 
the  brindle  cow  wants  to  calve  and  can't." 
The  red  lieutenant  looked  much  perplexed. 
"  What ! "  said  he,  "  Can't !  Of  course  she 
can."  Then  we  all  laughed  at  him  and  were 
very  jolly,  and  the  farm  hand  from  Oldenburg 
helped  the  cow. 

After  that  we  rode  on.  The  red  lieutenant 
knew  nothing  of  any  good  water-place;  he  said 
we  must  get  used  to  going  without  water. 

In  the  afternoon,  on  the  way  back  to  our 
division,  we  overtook  a  provision  train,  with 
the  leader  of  which  our  lieutenant  talked  for 
a  while.  The  others  chatted  meanwhile  with 
the  guard,  but  I  could  not  take  my  eyes  off  a 
driver  who  walked  along  near  his  oxen  with 


212  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

long,  dignified  strides,  his  whip  over  his  shoul- 
der. Behind  him  walked  his  wife  with  a  little 
two-year-old  child  in  a  shawl  on  her  back. 
Then  came  still  in  single  file,  graduated  ac- 
cording to  height,  three  more  half -grown  chil- 
dren. A  pipe,  the  common  property  of  the 
family,  went  from  the  man  all  along  the  line 
to  the  last  little  eight-year-old,  who,  after  he 
had  had  a  few  pulls,  took  it  back  on  the  trot 
to  his  father.  Only  the  smallest  had  not  yet 
any  interest  in  the  pleasures  of  tobacco.  From 
his  seat  on  his  mother's  back  he  was  trying, 
with  some  success,  I  believe,  to  reach  her 
breast,  which  hung  down  long  and  flabby. 

As  I  rode  along  still  reflecting  on  this  pic- 
ture, the  lieutenant  called  me  and  told  me 
that,  according  to  the  story  of  the  leader  of 
the  column,  the  head  doctor,  sick  himself,  and 
with  a  single  sick  companion  and  a  black  ser- 
vant, had  passed  on  this  road  about  an  hour 
before  in  order  to  reach  our  division  ;  but  now 
no  more  of  their  tracks  were  to  be  seen  and 
it  was  feared  that  they  had  followed  another 
path,  which  would  not  lead  to  a  water-place. 


THE  LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE         213 

I  was  to  ride  on  with  two  men  in  search  of 
them  and  escort  them  to  the  division. 

I  was  much  pleased  with  this  commission 
and  fulfilled  it  with  especially  good  luck ;  for 
when  we  had  ridden  about  an  hour,  during 
which  time  I  had  examined,  like  an  old  hunter, 
every  track  which  crossed  our  path,  I  dis- 
covered to  my  great  joy  that  three  riders  had 
turned  off  the  path,  to  the  right,  at  a  place 
that  was  sandy  enough  to  show  their  track 
plainly.  They  were  evidently  trying  to  reach 
the  camp  by  the  shortest  way,  straight  across 
the  bush.  We  followed  their  course  and  soon 
saw  the  three  lonely  riders  going  along  in  front 
of  us  in  the  thin  bush  on  their  very  weary 
horses.  On  the  left  rode  the  doctor,  recogniz- 
able by  his  short,  sturdy  figure ;  I  had  seen 
him  several  times  before  the  last  fight.  His 
companion,  who  was  riding  at  the  right,  hung 
in  the  saddle  as  though  he  were  asleep ;  now 
and  then  the  doctor  reached  over  to  him  as  if 
to  hold  him  or  shake  him  up.  The  black  ser- 
vant rode  as  leader  some  twenty  yards  in  ad- 
vance. I  shook  my  head  in  disapproval  of  the 


214  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

way  the  doctor  had  to  ride  with  such  a  scanty 
escort  and  protection  from  hospital  to  hospital 
straight  across  this  pathless,  waterless  country 
overrun  by  hostile  tribes,  and  I  put  my  tired 
horse  into  a  trot.  Therefore  the  black  servant 
looked  around  and  announced  our  approach. 
The  doctor  again  gave  his  companion  a  cuff, 
turned  his  horse,  and  took  his  gun  out  of  its 
rest.  Since  many  of  the  enemy  used  to  wear 
our  uniforms  and  hats,  and  since  our  sunburned 
faces  looked  almost  black,  especially  as  the  sun 
shone  nearly  vertically  down  on  us,  he  took  us 
for  the  moment  for  foes;  but  when  we  took 
off  our  hats,  he  recognized  us.  I  now  saw  that 
the  other  man  was  very  sick  and  could  no 
longer  hold  himself  properly  in  the  saddle,  and 
that  the  doctor  himself,  who  at  the  fight  four 
weeks  before  had  looked  well  and  fresh,  was 
very  much  worn,  and  looked  wearily  and  fe- 
verishly out  of  deep-sunken  eyes.  For  the  last 
six  weeks  he  had  ridden  from  one  division  to 
another,  and  yesterday  and  to-day  had  covered 
about  forty  miles;  and  he  had  not  slept  for 
tweuty  hours.  While  he  was  asking  me  where 


THE  LIMIT   OF  ENDURANCE         215 

I  came  from  and  where  I  was  going,  and  was 
drinking  out  of  my  water-sack,  scolding  the 
while  at  his  black  servant,  who  out  of  sheer 
indifference  and  laziness  had  not  filled  his 
water-sack,  my  men  were  helping  his  escort 
down  from  his  horse.  Soon  by  main  force  they 
lifted  him  back  into  his  saddle  and  we  rode 
slowly  on  again. 

Late  in  the  evening  we  arrived  dead  tired 
at  our  division,  which  was  spending  the  night 
by  some  dried-up  water-holes.  It  was  a  very 
cold,  unpleasant  night.  A  sharp,  cutting  wind 
blew  across  the  steppes  and  drove  fine,  dry 
sand  over  the  thirsting  men  and  animals. 

The  following  day  we  were  overtaken  by  a 
thunder-storm.  Dark  clouds  rose  as  if  from  all 
sides  at  once,  heavy  thunder  rolled  over  the 
broad  plain,  gleaming  whips  of  lightning  quiv- 
ered across  the  whole  sky,  and  rain  poured  in 
torrents.  But  after  one  hour  all  dampness  was 
gone  and  a  stormy  wind  blew  the  sand  into 
our  faces  so  that  we  could  not  open  mouth  or 
eyes.  We  protected  ourselves  in  bivouac  from 
the  biting  cold  by  putting  up  canvas  as  a 


216  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

screen  against  the  wind.  Behind  this  shelter 
we  cooked  our  daily  fare  of  tough  meat  and 
rice  with  bad  water  over  a  miserable  fire.  We 
talked  little  and  gloomily.  Far  in  the  east  were 
great  clouds  of  smoke  and  flame. .  The  enemy 
on  their  retreat  into  the  desert  were  burning 
the  sparse,  dry  fodder. 

The  next  forenoon  we  expected  to  'find 
water  at  a  place  near  the  dried  bed  of  a  river. 
We  found  holes,  but  they  were  empty.  Twenty 
men  got  down  into  them  and  dug  them  deeper, 
but  no  water  came.  So  we  could  neither  drink 
nor  cook.  The  horses,  too,  could  not  graze 
without  being  watered  first,  for  their  parched 
mucous  membranes  could  not  digest  the  dry, 
coarse  grass.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  go 
on.  We  dismounted,  and,  leading  our  horses, 
walked  in  a  long  weary  train  through  deep, 
blowing  sand,  under  hot  sun,  with  burning 
throats.  Occasionally  a  horse  stumbled  and 
his  owner  pulled  him  up  again  and  talked  to 
him  kindly  or  roughly.  In  this  way  night 
came  on  and  it  grew  dark.  The  ground  was 
stony  and  we  could  no  longer  see  the  trail. 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE         217 

We  halted,  stationed  sentinels  about  us,  lighted 
a  few  fires,  and  lay  sleeping  heavily  on  the 
ground.  Our  horses  stood  or  lay  near  us  by 
the  fires. 

About  midnight  the  moon  rose  slowly  over 
the  broad  steppes.  We  called  in  the  sentries, 
saddled,  and  went  on ;  and  after  three  hours 
were  close  to  the  water-place  which  our  scouts 
had  found  in  reconnoitring.  The  moonlight 
was  so  brilliant  that  we  could  see  the  water- 
holes  from  a  long  distance  lying  like  dark 
spots  in  the  ghostly  white  limy  surface.  At 
one  side  stood  single  beautiful  tall  trees  with 
two  gray  ant-hills  bright  in  the  moonlight. 
It  looked  like  a  splendid  square,  paved  with 
marble,  in  the  midst  of  a  magnificent  park, 
with  statues  under  tall,  still  trees  at  one  side 
of  the  square.  The  horses  raised  their  heads 
and  quickened  their  gait,  and  their  sleepy, 
half-starved,  cold  riders  came  to  life.  The 
leaders  of  our  party  were  now  at  the  first 
water-hole  ;  but  their  horses  turned  away  and 
went  to  the  second  and  the  third.  Then  the 
rest  of  us  came  up  and  noticed  the  odor  of 


218  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

carrion,  which,  like  a  wicked,  hidden  monster, 
lay  flat  over  the  whole  beautiful  moonlit  clear- 
ing, ready  to  devour  us.  The  holes  were  full 
of  decaying  cattle.  The  horses  stood  there 
with  drooping  heads,  and  we  near  them,  prop- 
ping ourselves  up  on  our  guns.  Many  a  one, 
dead  with  sleep  and  weak  from  hunger,  swayed 
as  he  stood. 

We  had  to  go  on  to  make  use  of  the  cool 
of  the  night.  Then  many  a  one  thought :  "If 
I  had  only  stayed  at  home  !  If  I  could  be  at 
home  now,  never  again  would  I  go  away ! " 
But  his  stumbling  horse  waked  him  out  of  his 
dream.  And  then  after  a  few  more  faltering 
steps  the  poor  animal  would  fall  forward  on 
his  knees  and  He  there  groaning.  The  rest 
would  pass  indifferently  by  him  and  his  pros- 
trate horse,  and  then  it  meant :  "  Don't  stand 
there  so  long !  Quick !  Take  off  the  bag  and 
sling  it  over  your  own  shoulders ! "  At  that 
he  would  get  wide  awake,  as  if  some  one  had 
said :  "  Behind  you  and  on  both  sides  under 
the  dry  bushes  follows  and  lurks  Death. 
Ahead,  and  there  only,  is  life  and  a  return 


THE   LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE         219 

home."  He  would  stoop  for  the  pack,  take 
one  more  look  into  the  eye  of  his  horse,  and 
trudge  on. 

Along  the  path  lay  many  little  burnt-out 
fires,  and  near  them  all  sorts  of  abandoned 
goods  belonging  to  the  enemy  or  stolen  by 
them,  especially  clothes  and  saddles  and 
Christian  books  which  the  missionaries  had 
given  or  sold  them.  The  whole  way  was  be- 
strewn with  cattle  which  had  fallen  dead.  We 
had  reached  the  path  of  the  enemy's  flight. 
A  reconnoitring  party  came  up  with  the  news 
that  our  other  division  had  surprised  a  part  of 
the  foe,  pelted  them  with  shell,  and  dispersed 
them. 

The  next  day  we  at  last  reached  a  good  water- 
place  and  here  joined  the  other  division.  Com- 
bining our  forces,  we  were  now  going  to  attack 
the  enemy,  who  were  at  the  next  and  last  water- 
place,  and  deal  them  a  finishing  blow.  It  was 
the  general  belief  that  there  would  be  a  battle 
just  as  severe  and  with  as  great  loss  as  the  one 
four  weeks  before.  The  general,  wishing  to  see 
the  united   divisions  all  drawn  up  in  battle 


220  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

array  and  also  wishing  to  raise  their  spirits 
in  expectation  of  battle,  ordered  a  parade  and 
religious  services  for  the  next  day. 

We  took  up  our  positions  in  the  broad  clear- 
ing,—  the  horsemen,  those  who  had  to  go  on 
foot,  and  the  artillery  with  the  cannon.  The 
oxen,  the  black  drivers,  the  Cape  wagons,  and 
the  sky  over  the  wide  steppes  looked  on.  We 
stood  in  beautiful  order,  and  it  sounded  very 
magnificent,  the  "  Good-morning,  soldiers ! " 
"  Good-morning,  your  Excellency  !  "  But  the 
horses  were  thin,  shaggy,  and  weary;  our 
clothes  and  boots  were  torn ;  and  hunger  and 
sickness  stared  many  of  us  in  the  face. 

At  four  in  the  afternoon  we  assembled  for 
the  service.  The  chaplain  had  been  with  the 
other  division  all  the  time,  so  that  I  had  seen 
him  for  the  first  time  only  a  few  days  before. 
He  was  a  big,  strong  man,  and  wore  a  uniform 
and  high  boots,  just  as  we  did.  He  sat  in  the 
saddle  with  his  gun  by  his  side  and  his  car- 
tridge-belt around  his  waist.  Even  now  when 
he  stood  before  the  chest,  which  was  covered 
with  a  red  cloth,  he  was  in  uniform  and  riding 


THE   LIMIT   OF   ENDURANCE         221 

boots ;  but  he  had  a  gold  cross  hanging  on  his 
breast  and  wore  on  his  arm  a  blue  and  white 
band  with  a  red  cross  on  it.  First  we  sang  the 
song,  "  We  come  to  pray  before  a  just  God." 
Then  he  began  to  speak.  He  said  that  a  people 
savage  by  nature  had  rebelled  against  the 
authorities  that  God  had  set  over  them  and 
besides  had  stained  themselves  with  revolting 
murders.  Then  the  authorities  had  given  the 
sword,  which  we  were  to  use  on  the  morrow, 
into  our  hands.  Might  every  man  of  us  use  it 
honorably,  like  a  good  soldier !  It  was  a  serious 
hour.  It  might  well  be  that  one  or  another 
would  not  live  till  the  next  night.  We  would 
seek  the  face  of  God  that  He  might  bestow 
upon  us  of  his  eternal  holiness,  for  to  those 
who  yield  themselves  to  Him  He  has  promised 
everlasting  peace  and  rest. 

We  realized  that  the  chaplain  was  in  earnest 
and  believed  himself  every  word  he  spoke,  and 
we  all  knew  that  there  would  be  a  fight  and 
that  perhaps  we  were  going  to  suffer  a  sudden 
death  or  painful  wounds  and  sorrowful  trans- 
port. And  then  there  faced  us  all  the  hard, 


222  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

long,  weary  road  through  shocking  diseases 
and  gnawing  hunger  and  torturing  thirst  be- 
fore we  came  again  to  our  distant  native  land. 
Therefore  we  all  listened  with  great  serious- 
ness and  then  took  off  our  hats  for  the  prayer. 
At  ten  o'clock  we  got  started.  The  country 
was  rolling  and  covered  with  thin  bush.  We 
went  along  the  top  of  a  low  ridge  and  saw  in 
the  moonlight  the  beautiful  soft  lines  of  the 
hills;  below  in  the  low  ground  ran  a  broad 
bright  stripe,  the  sandy  bed  of  a  river.  It  got 
to  be  four  o'clock,  then  morning,  and  nothing 
was  to  be  seen  of  the  enemy.  We  thought, 
however,  that  we  should  see  them  when  we 
reached  the  height  in  front  of  us,  and  in  spite 
of  the  ever-increasing  heat  we  went  on.  The 
van  reached  the  height  and  disappeared.  Not 
a  shot.  We  saw  that  the  artillery  were  taking 
the  dust  caps  off  their  guns.  A  few  shots  were 
heard  from  a  long  way  ahead.  Now  we  reached 
the  top.  Nothing  was  to  be  seen  of  the  enemy 
except  below  in  the  distance,  where  a  heavy, 
monstrous  cloud  of  dust  was  moving  swiftly 
across  the  plain.  Then  it  was  clear  that  the 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE  223 

proud  nation  had  lost  all  courage  and  hope, 
and  preferred  to  die  in  the  desert  rather  than 
to  fight  any  more  with  us. 

We  rested  a  little  by  the  water-holes  which 
the  enemy  had  left,  and  by  their  fires,  which 
were  still  burning.  Then,  on  weary  horses, 
we  pushed  forward.  Towards  evening,  as  we 
passed  along  by  the  river  bed,  we  came  to  a 
place  where  there  should  have  been  water.  We 
found  some  old  water-holes,  and  near  them 
hundreds  of  new  ones  dug  by  the  enemy  the 
day  before.  They  were  twelve  feet  deep  and 
even  deeper,  but  they  had  no  water  in  them. 

It  was  now  reported  that  there  was  still  a 
last  water-place  about  five  hours'  ride  further 
on,  and  that  great  numbers  of  the  enemy  were 
camping  there.  It  was  decided  that  we  must 
drive  them  away ;  and  we  wanted  to,  for  if 
we  hunted  them  out  of  that  place  nothing 
remained  to  them  but  the  wilderness.  At  one 
o'clock  at  night,  tired  riders  and  weary  horses, 
we  formed  for  the  march.  In  seven  hours  we 
reached  the  place,  but  no  water  was  there. 
From  a  hill  we  saw  two  mighty  clouds  of  dust 


224  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

moving  rapidly  to  the  north  and  northeast, 
toward  certain  death  from  thirst. 

But  we,  too,  had  reached  our  limit.  Every 
fourth  man  was  sick  with  dysentery  or  typhoid 
fever ;  the  rest  were  exhausted  from  overex- 
ertion. Half  our  horses  had  fallen,  our  clothes 
and  saddles  were  torn.  We  were  seven  hours 
from  the  nearest,  poorly  supplied  water-holes 
and  twenty-four  hours  from  the  better  ones. 
The  danger  of  getting  hung  up  here  on  the 
border  of  the  desert  was  not  remote.  Then  the 
general  ordered  that  we  should  give  up  the 
pursuit. 

Still  some  scouts  were  to  try  to  push  on  for 
a  few  hours  more.  Volunteers  in  plenty  offered 
themselves  even  for  this  last  hard  expedition, 
as  they  always  did  for  all  scouting  trips.  As 
I  was  a  good  rider,  I  got  the  horse  of  a  non- 
commissioned officer  who  had  just  slipped  sick 
out  of  his  saddle,  and  I  rode  out  of  camp  with 
the  party.  A  first  lieutenant  who  looked  like 
a  scholar  led  us.  We  rode  and  rode ;  then  we 
rested  an  hour.  When  we  had  trotted  pain- 
fully for  ten  minutes,  we  dismounted  and  led 


THE   LIMIT  OF   ENDURANCE  225 

our  horses,  and  we  even  resorted  to  having 
one  man  lead  two  horses  while  the  other  drove 
them  along  from  behind.  So  we  got  on  com- 
paratively fast.  The  lieutenant's  voice  was 
hoarse  in  his  dry  throat  from  commanding: 
"Dismount!"  "Mount!"  "Trot!" 

Several  times  we  saw  from  some  little  eleva- 
tion the  mass  of  dust  which  dragged  slowly 
forward,  but  we  got  little  nearer.  We  thought 
they  would  have  to  rest ;  then  we  would  come 
up  to  them  with  a  last  effort  and  frighten  them 
by  our  sudden  appearance  and  firing,  and  drive 
them  still  further  into  the  desert.  The  sun  was 
burning  fiercely  on  the  broad,  desert  country. 
My  throat  was  so  parched  that  every  time  I 
followed  the  impulse  to  swallow,  I  groaned 
softly  with  the  pain.  I  had  sometimes  a  sud- 
den feeling  of  fear  that  I  must  get  away  out 
of  this  terribly  dry,  hot  air  and  scorching  sun 
or  I  should  all  at  once,  with  one  fearful  scream, 
lose  my  reason.  I  could  not  refrain  from  drink- 
ing my  last  drop  of  water  and  moistening  my 
eyes  with  the  damp  sack.  Soon  after  this  one 
of    our  twenty  men    began   to    sway  in   his 


226  PETER   MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

saddle  and  to  murmur  to  himself.  When  I 
looked  back  to  see  how  it  was  with  the  others, 
two  or  three  were  hanging  pale  and  insensible 
in  their  saddles  and  others  rode  along  with 
deep-sunken,  closed  eyes.  The  subordinate 
officer  looked  at  me  with  a  glance  which  seemed 
to  say  :  "  It  is  madness  to  ride  any  further.'* 
Immediately  afterwards  the  lieutenant  called 
a  halt  and  had  five  men  dismount  and  lie  down. 
We  protected  them  from  the  heat  with  their 
cloaks  and  rode  on.  But  after  about  an  hour 
five  or  six  of  the  party  could  no  longer  lead 
their  horses ;  their  legs  were  like  lead,  and  two 
were  trembling  in  every  limb  and  vomiting. 
We  let  them  lie  down  and  covered  them  up. 
They  were  hardly  on  the  ground  before  they 
were  sleeping  like  the  dead. 

I  noticed  that  the  lieutenant  was  annoyed 
that  he  could  not  go  on,  although  he  himself 
could  hardly  speak.  He  stood  and  looked  with 
the  glass  up  the  hill  behind  which  the  cloud 
of  dust  had  vanished,  hanging  now  only  like 
a  mist  over  the  summit.  He  wanted  very  much 
for  us  to  show  ourselves  on  the  top,  in  case  the 


THE  LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE  227 

enemy  had  halted  on  the  other  side  in  the  hope 
that  the  German  troops  had  at  last  turned 
back.  A  home-guardsman  who  was  in  the  party 
stepped  up  to  him  and  said  that  his  horse  was 
probably  strong  enough  to  ride  on  two  hours 
more,  especially  as  it  was  getting  toward  even- 
ing. Then  I,  too,  stepped  forward  and  offered 
to  ride  with  them.  We  arranged  with  the  others 
that  they  should  go  back  to  the  first  five  and 
wait  there  with  them  till  ten  o'clock.  If  we  had 
not  then  returned,  they  were  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  remaining  night  hours  to  reach 
the  camp.  I  had  a  secret  opinion  that  the  two 
would  not  give  up  their  plan  till  they  collapsed 
from  over-exhaustion,  and  I  wanted  to  be  with 
them,  for  I  thought  I  was  stronger  than  either 
of  them. 

After  half  an  hour  we  started.  We  gave  up 
leading  our  horses  and  stayed  in  the  saddle. 
After  a  while  three  cows  came  toward  us. 
They  were  awfully  thin  and  lowed  mournfully ; 
one  of  them  had  been  cut  in  the  side  with  a 
knife,  probably  so  that  some  one  could  drink 
the  blood  that  flowed  out.  A  little  further  on 


228  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

we  found  a  goat  lying  by  the  way,  and  near  it 
a  boy  with  remarkably  long,  thin  legs,  as  if 
they  had  stretched  in  death.  We  hardly  turned 
our  horses  so  that  they  should  not  tread  on 
him.  It  is  strange  what  a  matter  of  indifference 
another  man's  life  is  to  us  when  he  belongs  to 
another  race.  In  half  an  hour  or  more  we 
neared  the  height.  The  guardsman  rode  on 
ahead,  his  gun  in  his  hand.  The  lieutenant 
and  I  followed.  It  was  slow  work.  As  I  was 
peering  by  chance  into  some  bushes  about  fifty 
yards  off,  which  grew  thicker  together  than  the 
others,  I  saw  among  and  under  them  people 
sitting  in  crowds,  shoulder  against  shoulder, 
quite  motionless.  The  heads  of  some  drooped 
on  their  breasts  and  their  arms  hung  down,  as 
if  they  were  asleep.  Others  sat  leaning  against 
a  bush  or  a  neighbor,  breathing  fast  and  hard, 
their  mouths  open ;  they  regarded  us  with  stupid 
eyes.  Some,  women  and  children,  had  laid  them- 
selves down  across  the  legs  and  laps  of  those 
who  were  sitting.  I  quietly  told  my  companions 
what  I  saw.  They  cast  a  long  glance  in  the 
direction  which  I  indicated,  but  said  nothing. 


THE  LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE  229 

We  rode  on.  The  guardsman  pointed  once  or 
twice  into  the  bushes ;  I  looked  over  there. 
Thus  we  reached  the  summit  and  then  looked 
attentively  out  over  the  plain,  which  lay  in 
boundless  extent  and  absolute  stillness,  like  a 
yellowish  gray  sea.  The  long  rays  of  the  set- 
ting sun  lay  upon  it  like  strips  of  thin,  bright- 
shining  cloth. 

We  sprang  off  our  horses,  loosened  the  girths, 
and  lay  down  on  the  ground.  The  guard's  horse 
began  to  sniff  at  his  face,  but  he  did  not  notice 
it;  he  was  already  asleep.  The  lieutenant  stood 
up  again  and  said  to  me :  "Get  up!  If  we  fall 
asleep,  we  shall  sleep  all  night  and  then  we  are 
lost."  I  rose,  and  we  both  stood  awhile  with 
benumbed  senses  in  a  state  between  sleeping 
and  waking.  The  sun  sank  in  a  dull  glow ;  the 
air  grew  cooler,  and  the  horses  got  somewhat 
more  lively  and  began  with  weary  steps  to 
nibble  a  few  little  bushes. 

After  a  while  the  Africander  woke  and  asked 
in  a  woe-begone  voice  if  I  had  a  drop  of  water. 
I  said:  "No."  He  said:  " The  lieutenant  has 
some,  then."  Again  I  said:  "No."    Then  he 


230  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

said  he  could  hold  out  no  longer  without  water, 
— he  had  trusted  too  much  to  his  strength,  he 
should  have  to  die  here.  The  lieutenant,  who 
had  dozed  standing  by  his  horse  and  holding 
on  to  the  saddle,  woke  and  said  consolingly : 
"  Cheer  up !  We  shall  start  at  once.  Then  we 
are  off  for  home,  for  the  war  is  now  really 
over."  "Yes,"  said  the  guardsman,  "it  is  over; 
forty  thousand  of  them  are  dead ;  all  their  land 
belongs  to  us.  But  what  good  does  all  that  do 
me?  I  must  die  here."  He  begged  mournfully: 
"  Have  you  not  a  single  drop  of  water  ? "  The 
lieutenant  shook  his  head :  "  You  know  I  have 
none.  Rest  a  little  longer;  it  is  night,  and  that 
will  refresh  us."  The  guardsman  got  up  with 
difficulty  and  went  with  bent  back  down  the 
slope  to  one  side  where  there  were  some  bushes. 
I  said :  "  What  does  he  want  ?  I  believe  he  is 
out  of  his  senses  and  wants  to  search  for  water." 
At  that  moment  there  came  from  the  bushes 
into  which  he  had  vanished  a  noise  of  cursing, 
running,  and  leaping.  Immediately  he  reap- 
peared, holding  by  the  hip  a  tall,  thin  negro 
dressed  in  European  clothing.    He  tore  the 


THE  LIMIT  OF  ENDURANCE         231 

negro's  gun  from  his  hand  and,  swearing  at 
him  in  a  strange  language,  dragged  him  up  to 
us  and  said  :  "  The  wretch  has  a  German  gun, 
but  no  more  cartridges."  The  guardsman  had 
now  become  quite  lively,  and  began  to  talk 
to  his  captive,  threatening  him  and  kicking 
him  in  the  knees.  The  negro  crouched,  and 
answered  every  question  with  a  great  flow  of 
words  and  with  quick,  very  agile  and  remark- 
able gestures  of  the  arms  and  hands.  "He 
says  he  has  not  taken  part  in  the  war."  Then 
he  asked  him  some  more  questions,  pointing 
towards  the  east ;  and  the  negro  also  pointed 
towards  the  east,  answering  all  sorts  of  things 
of  which  I  understood  nothing.  The  guards- 
man said  :  "  He  is  stuffing  me  with  lies."  This 
went  on  for  some  time.  I  can  still  hear  the 
two  dry,  shrill  voices  of  the  German  and  the 
native.  Apparently  the  guardsman  at  last 
learned  enough,  for  he  said  :  "  The  missionary 
said  to  me,  'Beloved,  don't  forget  that  the 
blacks  are  our  brothers.'  Now  I  will  give  my 
brother  his  reward."  He  pushed  the  black 
man  off  and   said :   "  Run  away  !  "  The  man 


232  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

sprang  up  and  tried  to  get  down  across  the 
clearing  in  long  zigzag  jumps,  but  he  had  not 
taken  five  leaps  before  the  ball  hit  him  and  he 
pitched  forward  at  full  length  and  lay  still. 

I  grumbled  a  little ;  I  thought  the  shot 
might  attract  to  us  the  attention  of  hostile 
tribes  who  had  perhaps  stayed  behind.  But 
the  lieutenant  thought  I  meant  it  was  not  right 
for  the  guardsman  to  shoot  the  negro,  and 
said  in  his  thoughtful,  scholarly  way  :  "  Safe 
is  safe.  He  can't  raise  a  gun  against  us  any 
more,  nor  beget  any  more  children  to  fight 
against  us.  The  struggle  for  South  Africa  will 
still  be  a  hard  one,  whether  it  is  to  belong  to 
the  Germans  or  to  the  blacks." 

The  guardsman  was  leaning  against  his 
horse.  He  had  a  severe  pain  in  his  chest,  and 
in  a  distressed  voice  said :  "  When  we  were 
sitting  once  by  our  fire  there  in  the  south,  our 
captain  said  that  two  million  Germans  would 
live  here,  and  their  children  would  ride  safely 
through  the  country  and  visit  their  playmates, 
stopping  on  the  way  to  water  their  horses  at 
these  water-holes  and  at  many  new  ones  which 


THE  LIMIT   OF   ENDURANCE         233 

would  be  dug  everywhere.  But  I  shall  not  see 
anything  of  it ;  I  am  sick,  very  sick.  Have  n't 
you  a  single  drop  of  water  ?  "  He  supported 
himself  by  the  saddle  and  looked  out  with 
fixed  eyes  over  the  steppes,  above  which  the 
stars  were  shining. 

The  lieutenant  talked  to  him,  prevailed  upon 
him  to  lie  down,  and  covered  him  up  with  his 
cloak.  He  himself  stood  by  his  horse,  beating 
time  with  his  watch,  which  he  held  in  his  hand, 
in  order  to  keep  himself  awake.  So  we  both 
stood  for  a  good  while.  Then  he  spoke :  "  These 
blacks  have  deserved  death  before  God  and 
man,  not  because  they  have  murdered  two  hun- 
dred farmers  and  have  revolted  against  us,  but 
because  they  have  built  no  houses  and  dug  no 
wells."  Then  he  fell  to  talking  about  home, 
and  among  other  things  said :  "  What  we  sang 
the  day  before  yesterday  in  the  service,  ' We 
come  to  pray  before  God  the  just,'  I  under- 
stood in  this  way  :  God  has  let  us  conquer  here 
because  we  are  the  nobler  and  more  advanced 
people.  That  is  not  saying  much  in  compari- 
son with  this  black  nation,  but  we  must  see 


234  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

to  it  that  we  become  better  and  braver  before 
all  nations  of  the  earth.  To  the  nobler  and 
more  vigorous  belongs  the  world.  That  is  the 
justice  of  God." 

The  guardsman  had  gone  to  sleep.  The 
lieutenant  stood  erect,  his  watch  in  his  hand, 
swaying  a  little  from  time  to  time.  I  stood 
half  asleep  and  half  awake  by  the  side  of  my 
horse.  The  moon  rose  and  the  night  grew  cold 
and  windy.  After  a  while  the  lieutenant  spoke 
again  :  "But  the  missionary  was  right  when 
he  said  that  all  men  are  brothers." 

"  Then  we  have  killed  our  brother,"  said  I, 
looking  toward  the  dark  body  lying  stretched 
in  the  grass. 

He  looked  up  and  said  in  a  hoarse,  painful 
voice :  "  For  a  long  time  we  must  be  hard  and 
kill,  but  at  the  same  time  as  individual  men 
we  must  strive  toward  high  thoughts  and 
noble  deeds  so  that  we  may  contribute  our 
part  to  mankind,  our  future  brothers."  He 
gazed  thoughtfully  over  the  broad  plain  and 
looked  again  at  the  motionless  body. 


THE   LIMIT   OF   ENDURANCE         235 

After  a  while  the  lieutenant  signified  with 
a  motion  of  the  hand  that  we  should  break 
our  rest.  He  went  with  heavy  steps  to  the 
sleeping  man,  woke  him,  and  with  difficulty 
set  him  on  his  feet,  and  ordered  me  to  pull  up 
the  girths.  Then  we  helped  the  guardsman 
into  the  saddle,  mounted  ourselves,  and  rode 
away. 

Those  whom  we  had  left  behind  we  found 
in  a  dead  sleep ;  the  subordinate  officer,  on  a 
saddle  in  their  midst,  alone  sat  watching.  It 
was  a  tiresome  ride  the  rest  of  the  night. 
Some  were  continually  begging  for  water ;  two 
had  to  be  supported  in  their  saddles.  I  myself 
know  little  of  those  hours ;  my  spirit  was  far 
away  sleeping  and  dreaming.  An  hour  after 
sunrise,  when  the  heat  was  beginning  to  be 
oppressive,  we  reached  the  main  body.  They 
were  preparing  to  break  camp.  The  campaign 
was  over. 


XVII 

LAST  DAYS  IN  AFRICA 

So  we  set  forth  out  of  the  far  east  and  marched 
westward  toward  the  capital.  Many  more  than 
half  of  us  had  to  go  on  foot  with  packs  over 
our  shoulders. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  October,  the  time 
when  in  that  region  spring  is  advancing  over 
the  land.  Rain  and  thunder-storms  had  passed 
violently  over  the  plain  and  were  still  occur- 
ring. So  new  life  was  beginning  to  shoot 
up  out  of  the  earth  that  had  looked  so  unfruit- 
ful. Flowers  appeared  in  the  long,  yellowish 
grass  and  filled  the  air  with  their  sweet,  mild 
perfume.  The  loathed  thorn-bush  put  on  dark 
green  leaves  and  snow-white  blossoms.  Many 
of  us  went  up  and  plucked  a  gay  branch  from 
the  hated  plant.  The  single,  tall  trees  decked 
themselves  out  with  long-stemmed  yellow  or 
lilac  umbels;  others  had  feathery  flowers  of 


LAST   DAYS   IN  AFRICA  237 

snowy  whiteness.  And  high,  high  above  all  the 
fresh  green  and  the  glorious  pure  white  and 
the  rich  yellow,  arched  the  cloudless  blue  sky. 
If  we  had  been  really  well  and  had  had  enough 
to  eat  and  had  not  had  to  pass  the  columns  of 
sick  transports  and  the  new  graves,  it  would 
have  been  indeed  a  beautiful  journey. 

I  had  long  liked  the  strange  country,  yet  I 
did  not  want  to  stay  in  it ;  I  would  not  give  up 
my  parents  and  my  trade.  Still,  my  mind  was 
firmly  made  up  to  visit  it  again  in  after  years, 
and  I  shall  do  so.  There  were  not  a  few  among 
us  who  liked  the  country  better  and  better  the 
more  they  learned  to  know  it,  and  who  seriously 
intended  to  stay  and  become  farmers.  If  even 
a  half  of  those  carried  out  their  intention, 
about  five  hundred  of  us  would  remain  in  the 
country. 

When  we  were  still  ten  days'  march  from 
the  capital  and  were  sitting  comfortably  around 
our  fire  with  better  food  —  for  a  provision 
wagon  had  arrived  with  bacon  and  coffee  and 
other  good  things  —  aud  were  talking  again 
about  our  joyous  home-going,  Henry  Gehlsen 


238  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

came  over  to  us  from  headquarters  and  told  us 
that  the  Hottentots,  who  lived  in  the  south,  had 
risen,  and  that  now  a  second  campaign  would 
begin  which  would  probably  be  as  hard  as  the 
one  which  had  just  ended  ;  at  any  rate,  going 
home  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 

At  that  we  became  very  still.  Then  we  gave 
vent  to  our  amazement  and  began  to  rail.  A 
Berlin  soldier  who  was  sitting  with  us  came 
finally  to  a  conclusion,  saying :  "  Well,  it  is  all 
the  same  to  me,  but  my  mother  will  scold." 
We  discussed  the  matter  for  a  long  time  and 
went  to  other  mess  companies,  where  we  asked 
all  sorts  of  questions  and  learned  all  sorts  of 
things.  Late  in  the  evening  a  violent  thunder- 
storm rose  in  the  south  till  it  reached  the  broad, 
dry  river  bed;  flickering  flashes  of  lightning 
filled  the  whole  southern  sky  till  after  midnight. 
It  was  as  if  to  let  us  know  how  severe  the  strug- 
gle would  be  which  was  in  prospect  down  there. 
Towards  morning  the  night  got  bitter  cold 
and  windy. 

The  following  morning  the  lieutenant  with 
whom  I  had  made  the  last  scouting  expedition 


LAST  DAYS  IN  AFRICA  239 

asked  me  if  I  would  escort  him  as  fast  as  pos- 
sible to  the  capital ;  he  was  sick,  and  did  not 
want  to  break  down  on  the  road.  I  was  only 
too  ready,  and  rode  with  him  as  fast  as  our 
horses  could  go.  On  the  third  or  fourth  day 
it  struck  me  that  my  heart  was  beating  very 
loud  and  hard.  I  often  pressed  my  hand  against 
it  and  said,  "  What  is  the  matter  with  you?  Be 
quiet !  "  but  it  did  no  good.  Nor  did  I  think 
much  of  it  when  on  the  fourth  or  fifth  day  I 
fainted  for  the  first  time  in  my  life.  I  had,  too, 
plenty  to  do  in  holding  the  lieutenant  on  his 
saddle,  for  he  had  summoned  the  last  remnant 
of  his  strength  to  finish  this  ride.  When  on 
the  morning  of  the  eighth  day  we  were  riding 
through  the  capital,  the  stabbing  pain  in  my 
heart  became  unendurable.  I  managed  to  es- 
cort the  lieutenant  to  the  door  of  the  hospital 
and  then  to  ride  at  a  walk  up  to  the  fort.  But 
there  I  was  lifted  fainting  from  my  horse  by 
fellow-soldiers  who  came  running  up.  They 
carried  me  into  the  hospital,  where  the  doctor 
examined  me.  He  said  that  I  had  contracted 
a  weakness  of  the  heart  from  long  overstrain- 


240  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

ing  and  especially  from  this  last  hard  ride,  and 
that  I  could  not  now  live  in  a  country  with 
such  a  high  altitude  and  such  thin  air ;  I  must 
go  home. 

So  after  I  had  lain  for  a  week  in  the  hospi- 
tal, I  traveled  by  the  little  rattling  railroad  to 
the  coast  in  four  uncomfortable  day-journeys 
in  the  small  open  beet  cars ;  and  on  the  second 
day  after  my  arrival  there,  I  clambered  in  my 
guardsman's  uniform  with  knapsack  and  cloak 
up  the  rope-ladder  to  the  deck  of  the  Wor- 
mann  steamer. 

We  were  fifty  men  on  board,  most  of  us  sick, 
some  very  sick.  One  had  received  a  wound  in 
the  breast,  and  it  was  still  suppurating.  We 
often  sat  by  him  and  carried  him  on  his  cot 
out  into  the  sun  and  tried  to  comfort  him. 
But  he  had  no  courage,  and  would  lie  brood- 
ing and  sometimes  softly  crying.  I  do  not 
know  what  became  of  him.  Another,  a  day 
laborer's  son  from  Pomerania,  had  lost  a  leg; 
he  could  already  hobble  about  on  crutches 
and  he  acted  as  if  he  were  in  good  spirits. 
He  said  he  could  now  sing  the  song  which 


LAST  DAYS   IN   AFRICA  241 

they  often  used  to  sing  in  the  village  school : 
"  For  all  I  am  and  have,  I  thank  thee,  my 
Fatherland."  But  he  frequently  sat  with  a 
grave  face  in  his  long  chair ;  he  was  only 
twenty-three  years  old.  Still  another  had  been 
sunstruck  on  a  forced  march  and  had  ever 
since  had  fixed  notions  which  grew  worse  all 
the  time  during  the  journey.  He  thought  he 
was  the  king  of  South  Africa,  and  wanted  to 
order  cannon  in  Germany.  I  have  heard  that 
afterwards  he  entirely  recovered.  The  rest 
were  almost  all  suffering  from  heart  disease  or 
had  undergone  a  bad  case  of  typhoid  fever. 
We  were  all  friendly  with  one  another  and 
agreed  very  well.  There  was  only  one,  a  Ber- 
liner, who  became  more  unpopular  every  day ; 
he  had  and  knew  and  could  do  everything. 

I  had  saved  up  one  hundred  and  fifty  marks 
from  my  war  bounty,  and  I  spent  it  in  pur- 
chase of  a  second-cabin  passage.  Henry  Gehl- 
sen,  who  had  got  through  a  bad  case  of 
typhoid  fever  and  was  also  going  home,  had 
suggested  it  to  me.  I  was  glad  to  do  it,  and 
have  never  regretted  it.  Whoever  keeps  up  a 


242  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

respectable  outward  appearance  will  by  that 
very  means  be  helped  to  succeed  better  in 
everything  else,  too.  I  associated  mostly  with 
Gehlsen  and  a  gunner  in  the  navy,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  serve  the  armor-plated  turret  on  a 
man-of-war.  He  had  been  with  Gehlsen  and 
me  in  our  first  bad  fight.  He  was  a  broad- 
shouldered,  genial  man,  full  of  jokes  and  drol- 
lery. I  liked  him  especially  because  he  gave 
the  benefit  of  his  continual  and  great  humor 
not  only  to  the  well  but  particularly  to  the  in- 
valid fellows.  Although  almost  all  had  some 
sort  of  injury,  we  were  nevertheless  all  joy- 
ful over  our  return.  As  far  as  to  the  coast  of 
Spain  the  deck  witnessed  much  joking,  sing- 
ing, and  nonsense.  I  myself  could  contribute 
nothing  to  it,  but  I  enjoyed  it  all  very  much. 
We  were  exceedingly  happy  when  we  saw 
the  coast  of  England  again.  Just  after  that 
we  met  the  first  German  ship,  a  little  slender 
cruiser  of  our  navy,  still  quite  new.  It  steamed 
energetically  by.  At  evening  the  next  day  a 
Wormann  steamer  came  toward  us  which  had 
on  board  troops  for  the  campaign  against  the 


LAST   DAYS   IN   AFRICA  243 

Hottentots.  They  stood  by  the  rail  in  their 
big  gray  cloaks  and  soft  hats,  and  shouted 
across  to  us. 

The  next  evening,  about  five  o'clock,  we 
neared  Cuxhaven  ;  we  plainly  saw  it  lying  in 
the  twilight.  Although  the  weather  was  biting 
cold,  we  stood  at  the  rail  for  a  long  time, 
wrapped  in  our  thick  coats.  Only  when  it  was 
quite  dark  did  we  go  below.  About  one  o'clock 
at  night  we  made  fast  to  the  Petersen  quay  at 
Hamburg,  but  we  stayed  on  board  over  night. 

In  the  forenoon  the  physician  came  and 
looked  every  one  of  us  over.  Then  the  very 
sick  men  went  ashore ;  then  we.  I  went  with 
permission  into  the  city  to  visit  my  uncle  who 
lives  in  St.  Pauli.  I  was  to  travel  in  the  after- 
noon to  Kiel  to  report  myself  and  get  my 
dismissal. 

When  I  was  sauntering  along  the  Jung- 
fernstieg  in  my  worn-out,  dirty  cord  uniform, 
with  dark,  sunburned  face,  a  middle-aged  man 
came  up  and  joined  me,  and  asked  me  all  sorts 
of  questions  as  we  went  along.  In  the  course 
of  the  conversation  it  came   out   that  I  had 


244  PETER  MOOR'S  JOURNEY 

heard  of  him  in  my  father's  house ;  for  he  had 
known  my  father  from  childhood.  I  related  to 
him  all  that  I  had  seen  and  experienced,  and 
what  I  had  thought  of  it  all.  And  he  has  made 
this  book  out  of  it. 


(St&e  fltocr»ibe  prcs? 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


SOUTHERN  nSSLi  C-Womla 

"•turn  if*  mSn^^^9^4-1388 


A  A      000139  550 


Class  v f\f.  No 

This  Book  is  thi:  Property  of 


PRESENTED   BY 


X&*c^ 


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